Ironman or Superman?
From left to right- Spencer, Steve, Billy and Brent
Last Sunday was the culmination of eight months of training and sacrifice, filled with a considerable amount of sweat, a few tears, inevitable doubt and an incredible amount determination… Ironman Sacramento! My husband and three friends piled into a rental house not far from the course with an enormous amount of gear from bikes and wetsuits, granola bars and energy chews, running shoes and helmets, all in anticipation of the race to come. The two days before the race were spent thinking and rethinking every detail about the 2.4 mile swim, the 112 mile bike ride and, of course, the marathon. Our job, the wives/support system, was to make sure things went smoothly for these athletes who were about to put everything on the line, and accomplish something only a small percentage of the world’s population are capable of doing: completing this grueling race and proclaiming, “I am an Ironman.”
The day started at 4 a.m. with coffee and breakfast. The house was dark and cold, and there was a noticeable amount of anticipation and tension in the air. I think the wives were more nervous than anyone because we would have to deal with the major fallout from an injury, a bike crash, a bad swim, a disqualification or the worst possible outcome… a DNF- did not finish. But we had to put those feelings aside and get our guys to the starting line. After they were dropped off, we got ourselves ready to go. Luckily the other ladies had been through this before, and showed me the ropes. We packed up and headed out for the day. It was time for us to track our athletes and try our best to be cheerleader and motivational coach during each leg of the race.
Watching all of the men and women climb out of the water after a long swim in the Sacramento River was nothing short of miraculous. The swim alone is an exhausting test of endurance, and most of these people were smiling as they jogged over to the transition area to get out of their wetsuits and head out on the bike portion of the race, which would last a minimum of five to six hours. Because this part of the race is so long and a bit hard to spectate, the wives decided to have breakfast and fuel ourselves for the rest of the day. The average time to finish the entire race is 13 hours; we could afford to sit and relax for a bit. And at this point we knew that everyone in our group had gotten out of the water and was safely on a bike, so we celebrated with some bloody Mary’s and mimosas. We also knew that the hardest part of our job was coming up…. cheering everyone on to the finish.
I have had such a mix of emotions over these past eight months while my husband has been training for this race. It hasn’t been easy. We have had a lot going on at home with the kids and it’s not like he has a nine to five job with lots of extra time in his schedule. In fact, in our group of four athletes, three are physicians, two of them have three children, one guy has six kids and on race day we were all praying that the one wife who didn’t make the trip with her husband wouldn’t go into labor- she’s pregnant with baby number five! Maybe now you understand the need for the midmorning cocktails.
It’s hard to understand why anyone would want to do this race until you see it for yourself. There were over two thousand people racing last Sunday. And you can see every kind of emotion on their faces as they fight just to get to the end. And believe me, it’s definitely a fight. There’s a point when you see your runner for the last time on the course and you head to the finish line. Your heart is pounding, and you are holding your breath until you see them turn the corner- then you know they are actually going to do it. They will be an Ironman. It was exhilarating to watch Steve run that last little part of the race; I was cheering as loud as I could while trying not to burst into tears. I was so excited and proud, and it finally made sense. That feeling of watching him conquer such a mentally and physically challenging race? Totally worth it. On to the next one…
