Here it is, the story of my Ironman.

I went to Lake Placid on Thursday [July 26, 2001] for the event, and for those of you who don't know, an Ironman is a one-day event consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run (which is a marathon). Earlier in the week, I thought I had a little cold, which I didn't think too much about. It's not uncommon in the last few weeks before a race for your body to feel a little run down.

My mom came and picked me and Vicky up and we went and got Kathleen, my stepmother, and we were on our way.

Thursday we didn't do much when we arrived. Got to the house we rented, went into town and looked around and ate. I was feeling worse and worse as the day went on. We got back to the house and I took a hot bath and was determined to knock out what ever this increasing illness was.

It was not working.

By the time I went to bed, I had a fever. It got worse as the sleepless night went on. Nothing worked, even though I was bundled head to toe trying to get it outa me. I was burning up, then I had the chills. I was hallucinating, I thought the US Postal Service bike team was riding through my room bring me water bottles.

I woke V up and cried and cried and cried. I was so sick. How could I work so hard for something for so long and get this sick? I was worried I would not be able to race. After most of the night, my fever broke, and I got a few minutes of sleep.

Friday I went into town to register, which felt like going into the military. Sign this form, stand in that line, get in the scale, have your hand stamped, wear this wrist band at all times. Did I mention that Lake Placid was now full of the most amazing people with the most amazing bodies? I was well enough to notice that.

The rest of the day was spent napping. I was determined not to be sick, or at least not as sick. Saturday, the day before the race, I went into town to check in my bike and go to the pre race meeting. I was not 100 percent, but I was feeling better. The upside to being sick was I never got nervous about the race. I was too worried that I wouldn't be able to start to worry about finishing.

Saturday night I could not sleep. I tossed and turned for most of the night. When I got up at 4:30, I was feeling sluggish and a little unsure. I told my mom, and she said, what's the alternative? Not do it? She knew I couldn't not do it, and so did I. I had spent 10 months waiting for this day.

So off we went. Loaded the car with all my stuff and headed into town.

I was in the transition area, which is always a sight to see right before a race. Bikes everywhere, half naked people scurrying around. I dropped off all my bags and got ready to go.

I walked down to the lake with Claudia [Cummings] and met up with Les [Jones]. We got in the water about 10 of 7. It felt great, it was nice and warm. Before I knew it the gun sounded and we were off.

Lap one of the swim: I have never had a swim be as full body contact as this one, but I have never been in such a mass start before, every one (1800 racers) started at once. There were far more men than women in this race, so much bigger bodies for me to contend with in the water. There was much kicking and shoving and bumping. I felt great in the water, I felt like I had never even been sick. The first lap flew by, it was my best time yet. I jumped outa the water, ran over to the start to get in for the last loop. Off I went. I was having the best swim of my life. I was breathing well and nothing was labored, I was amazed my day was starting so well.

An hour and 14 minutes after I got in the lake, I was done the swim. I jumped out and had my

wetsuit stripped, yes, there are people that do that for you and it is amazing, because trying to get out of one of those things in a timely fashion after swimming can be a sight to see.

I ran down to the transition area, got my bag and into the changing tent. Then I was off to bike. I saw Les going toward his bike as I was on my way out and he looked great.

And now the bike. I have a lot of miles on my legs and a lot of really long rides under my belt, so the 112-mile bike ride concerned me the least. I got going and felt really good. There is a little climb out of town, then some rolling hills and a booming downhill. I reached 47 mph flying down that hill. I felt better than I had expected given my illness and was pretty much where I wanted to be.

Then something you never want to happen happened. At mile 50 I got a flat. And I was PISSED. I pulled over and changed it as quickly as I could, making sure I did it right so it wouldn't come back to haunt me later. It had me pissed for the next 20 miles.

Ironman is very mental, and it is not a good thing to let something get in your head like that. So I finally just let it go. The bike is also done in loops and the last 15 miles of the loop are uphill into town. It wasn't bad the first time...

Loop two, that little climb outa town felt a little bigger the second time around. I was still pissed about my flat, but I moved on and set my sights on flying down the big hill again. This loop was much slower, but I was still feeling good. At mile 100 I knew I was almost there, but had to climb back into town. That was not pleasant. And it seemed like it would never end. I was start to set my mind on the little 26.2-mile run I had ahead of me.

I got into the transition area and into the changing tent where I stripped down, got changed, ate a little and had a neck rub. I looked down at my feet as a pulled of my biking shoes. My toes had been bothering me on the ride, but I didn't think much of it till I saw it. It looked like a grape it was so purple and I couldn't move it. It was broken, I was pretty sure of it. Oh well, on went the running shoes. If I could walk, I could run. And I could walk. I ran into Claudia on my way out of the tent. We had done almost all of our training for this together, so I was glad that we were going to be able to run together. We headed out right as the woman who would win the race was just finishing.

Off we went. We started off better than I thought we would, I was feeling really good. I ran well for the first several miles. It was always in my plan to walk every 30 minutes during the run to eat and drink. I had done it in training and it worked well. This is how we started. Then I started walking a bit more. I wanted to run all the hills the first time around because I knew I might not be able to the second time around. I was still moving well.

The first lap was under my belt and things were going better than I thought all things considered. I was not having the race I thought I was going to have last week, but I also had not planned on getting so sick and busting my toe. I was there, I had 13 miles to go, I knew it was going to take me a very long time, but I knew I was going to finish. The start of my second lap it started to rain and was dark with clouds. It wasn't raining hard and luckily it wasn't cold, it was just a little annoying. I managed to run from mile 13 to mile 18.

Then things started to get weird. I saw a sign up that said "Ironman is 90% mental, the other half is physical." That is how I felt. At this point, it is a mental game. My body was so tired and my mind kept it going, but my mind was turning to mush. I was now out there alone and making deals with myself on when I could walk and how much I had to run.

I met up with another slowpoke at mile 20. This was his sixth Ironman (!!) and he was not having the race of his life. Together we walked and egged each other on to run every once in a while. We kept each other going. I can't even tell you what he looked like, I could barely make him out by the light of his glow stick. Wherever you are Andrew from Virginia, thanks for getting me to mile 25!!!

From there I could hear the music of the finish line and I could run and run well. Where had this running well been for the last 10 miles? Didn't matter, I was running towards the noise and I was going to finish. My brain was so fried, I remember being on the track towards the finish and hearing the crowd and hearing the announcer call my name as I got closer. I crossed the line and broke the finishing tape they put up for everyone.

My medal was around my neck and it was over.

I am an Ironman.