Well, here it is: my race report for Ironman Germany, Sunday July 11 2004. There were 4 of us from the New York "contingent" - Audra Farrell, Frank Graziolo, Paul Frio and myself.

The race was held in and around Frankfurt, which is a great setting for an Ironman. The race organizers seemed to have thought of everything, and the registration lines were the shortest I've ever seen! We had a great time the week before the race visiting with Evelyn's family and relaxing, and I felt ready to get out there and do the thing.

The swim was south of Frankfurt at the Langener Waldsee (the name basically means "the lake in the woods near the town of Langen")… to get there, I boarded an athlete shuttle bus at about 4:45am (which means that I got up at 3:50am, or before many of you folks in the US even went to bed on Saturday night) and reached the staging area at about 5:30am. It was very busy with people getting ready, and crowds of spectators were already arriving. It didn't take long to get my transition area set up, which then left me lots of time to putter around -- and then suddenly there wasn't much time at all as the announcers told us to start heading down to the lake. That wasn't as easy as it seemed, as there was some sort of bottleneck on the ramp to the shore, and many of us got stuck in there for quite a long time - it was like being in a mosh pit with hundreds of people wearing rubber suits.

When I finally got into the water the race was running late and people were pretty tense. The gun went off just as I was getting into position in the water - and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by flailing bodies. This of course isn't anything new, but for some reason it was the most aggressive swim start I've ever been in, bar none. There were about 9 men for every woman, and they were everywhere! I found that I couldn't move forward without swimming over people (which I was too small to do), and there were a lot of big people trying to swim over me! After a minute or two of this, I swam over to the side and waited for the pack to get by so that I could stretch out and swim in peace, and from then on things were fine (although I was a bit grumpy for a while). The first loop did seem to take forever, but it really only took about 38 minutes for me to reach the beach, run out and then run back in. The second loop took about the same amount of time but for some reason felt shorter (maybe because I wasn't getting beat up on this one).

I got out of the water for the second time in 1:16:45 and ran up the ramp to T1 - as we were running towards the changing tent I saw a guy ahead of me trying to get at the zipper pull of his wetsuit, which stayed just out of his reach - I pulled it down for him, and it turned out to be my friend Paul! In fact, Paul, Frank, Audra and I all got out of the water at about the same time, and I saw Audra just down the way in T1 as we started putting on our layers to head out to the bike course. The day had started out sunny, but now there were dark clouds looming and a few drops of rain and the temperature was in the low to mid-60's, so we weren't taking any chances of being wet and cold all day. I even put on a rain jacket, although I ended up taking it off after about 15 miles and had to carry it in my pocket for the entire rest of the bike (oh well, better safe than sorry).

The bike course consisted of a 12K ride up to Frankfurt, followed by two 84K loops of the surrounding countryside for a total of 180K (of course everything is measured in kilometers in Germany! It was actually a refreshing change from miles for some reason). The bike course was basically flat/slightly rolling with a few hills sprinkled in, which they made a big deal out of! (Compared to our New York training grounds, there were really not any big hills to speak of.) The first hill was called "The Beast," followed by "The Hell," which was a short climb on cobblestones in the middle of the town of Hochstadt. I wasn't sure what this section would be like, mainly because I knew that The Hell draws huge crowds who scream and carry on like mad, which I thought would be annoying - but it was actually a blast! The cobblestones were really bumpy but not dangerous, and the crowds were crazy! Our names were printed on our race numbers, and people would yell your name, blow whistles, bang on things- it was like being part of the Tour de France! I found myself grinning and laughing through what was supposed to be one of the worst spots on the course.

The next hill was the Huehnerberg, the steepest climb on the course (but very short). The locals had set up a sound system to play music, and one man had a microphone and was shouting the riders' names as they went by. When I approached he ran behind me and yelled my name, then asked me where I was from -- when I said "New York City" they all started cheering! I felt like a celebrity, which was really fun! There were lots more towns to go through, and there were crowds in all of them - little kids lined the sides of the roads with their hands out to be slapped as we went by, and begged for our water bottles, "Flasche, bitte!" I saw Evelyn and her mom in the town of Friedberg (the northernmost point of the course), then headed back south towards Frankfurt.

Along the way there was one more big climb in the town of Bad Vilbel - this one had huge inflatable arches across the road, and people stood so close along the sides that it was like riding through a gauntlet (and I feel like maybe I know a little bit about how the guys in the Tour feel now!). I got quite a few cheers since I was passing people up the hill, especially since all the riders I passed were men. We rode on through Frankfurt and then back out to do it all again before hitting the run course.

I was feeling good through the first bike loop, sticking to my nutrition plan, and hit the halfway point right on schedule at about 3 hours 15 minutes. Then I hit a low point - my neck and shoulders were sore from being in the aerobars, my stomach sour, and another 80-90K seemed like a long way. I wasn't able to find my special needs package -- instead of one big special needs area with a bag for each rider like they have at Lake Placid, there was basically a milk crate at one of the bike aid stations - don't blink or you'll miss it, which I did. So I headed out without my special treat (a soft pretzel), which was a bit disappointing. I spent the bike ride drinking Extran and eating Gu, with salt capsules thrown in to keep my stomach from getting slushy. Since I was feeling kind of sick for a while, I cut back on the feedings to let my stomach catch up, and concentrated on keeping the same pace as the first loop. I went through Hochstadt again, which cheered me up considerably (it's hard to be crabby when people are cheering for you!) and started to feel better again - just in time for the rain to start! I could see that the rain clouds were local since there was blue sky ahead, so I just kept riding, and after 10 or 15 minutes was on dry ground again – then the rain came back, then went away again, then came back, then went away for good as we hit the home stretch. I passed Paul at an intersection where he had stopped for a quick break, and he caught up with me as we rode through Bad Vilbel and saw Evelyn and her mom again. By that time I was still feeling strong but very ready to be done! Paul pulled off ahead, and I concentrated on getting to T2 as fast as possible.

I finished the bike in 6:38:15, reaching T2 at about the 8 hour mark, right on time. The nice woman who helped me with my clothes in the changing tent kept putting things back in my bag saying "It's not cold, you won't need this" and I kept taking them back out again since I figured I might need them later (long-sleeved shirt, tights, gloves – after my hypothermia experience at Lake Placid, I was afraid to go out on the run without them, although later I ended up giving almost everything to Evelyn, which was not a penalty like it would be in the US). Paul and I left T2 together and headed out on the 3-loop run course along the Main River. I was ready to get out there and have a good run (which in an Ironman is really different from having a good run at a regular marathon since most people expect to go slower). I did my first 5K at a 9-minute-per mile pace and decided to slow down to 10's so that I wouldn't wear myself out (my heart rate was higher than my goal rate and I wanted to slow it down), and overall the first hour was great - if I could keep up that pace I would have a sub-13 hour finish! That was a very exciting thought indeed!!

But then my stomach decided not to play nice, and things degenerated fast. The Gu I was eating made me feel lousy, and the salt capsule I took didn't help like I had hoped it would. I tried drinking some Coke hoping that it would settle things down, but my pace was slowing and I wasn't feeling any better. I was concerned that I might be getting dehydrated so I drank some sports drink - big mistake. That stuff made me really sick, and I wasn't able to keep anything in my stomach for the rest of the race. I started walking. Paul passed me and offered encouraging words, which had me running again for a brief while - then more walking. Since it was a loop course (14K per loop), I was also able to see Audra and Frank, and went by the spot where Evelyn was standing pretty regularly, which helped a lot. But on the second loop I spent a lot of time walking, and I saw that sub-13 hour finish slipping away with every kilometer that crawled by.

My goal became to run as long as possible before needing to walk again to ease my stomach - when I got to the 29K mark, though, I had had enough of this approach. I was thinking about all of the great races I had had this year so far, and how I had somehow managed to run through all the discomfort to finish well at those other events, and I got really pissed off! I was going to run to the finish, and no more excuses! So I started running again at a pretty good clip, and for a while it seemed to be working (especially since I had also decided not to eat or drink anything else until I finished). But it was hard to keep the anger energy going, and the 34K mark found me taking another walk break. I saw Audra across the way and shouted hello, and a woman next to me said "Oh, you speak English?! That's great!" Erica had come from Colorado to do the race, and we ran most of the next 4 miles together, chatting and keeping each other moving. My stomach was behaving, and things were looking good. But with about 1.5 K to go, I told Erica to go ahead - I needed one more short walk break since at this point I was running on fumes. I ran the last 1K, and when I got to the turn-off for the finish line, I found energy that I didn't know I had, and started picking up the pace until I turned a corner and there it was! The crowd was huge and screaming, and there was that magic arch with "Ziel" written across it in big letters! I ran toward it, grinning like a lunatic and slapping hands with the crowd, to cross the finish line at 13:21:26.

Ironman Germany is a great race, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was wonderful to be able to do the race with Audra, Frank and Paul, and the German crowds take the word "fans" to another dimension! Although I was a little bit bummed out about the rough experience on the run, I had a lot of fun mixed in with the low points, and there are no words to describe what it feels to cross an Ironman finish line. (And I really can't complain about a PR of 2 hours and 21 minutes, either.) All the same, I'm glad that I'm not planning to do another Ironman any time soon (currently looking towards 2006) which should give me plenty of time to figure out all the bumps and hitches in my nutrition plan so I don't get sick like that again - just another reminder that Ironman is a process, and there is a lot to learn along the way! Thanks again to everyone for their support and encouragement, and especially to Evelyn who deserves a medal of her own for going above and beyond the call of duty!