I'm still wired from the race, with an hour and a half to go before
the finish line closes.

In my last report, I mentioned how relaxed I was on Saturday. A
little too relaxed, perhaps.

Sunday morning at 4am, the alarm went off. I hit the snooze and lay there, relaxed and ready.

My relaxed state was shattered as my wife sat up and said the magic words:
"Oh my God, it's ten after six!.. What are you doing here?!?"

There was a 'Seinfeld' episode that featured an elite marathoner who had infamously overslept and missed that start of the NYC marathon. This flashed through our heads and I realized that I have a great story if I can get my arse down to the start on time.

6:17 - My heart beating like a jackhammer, I leapt into action.
Everything was ready to go, but I still had to get to the start and
give them my special needs bags, fill my bike water bottle, grease up with body glide and get my wetsuit on.

Did I mention that we're staying at the Econo Lodge? It's located a little over a mile from the race start.

6:22 - We gathered clothes for the kids and threw them, head first, into the car.

6:27 - Luck was with us as we were able to drive right up to the rear of the Olympic Oval at the bike exit.

6:35 - I left one of my super-charged bottles of gooped Ultra-Fuel in the car. It's okay though, I'll just Fuel up with whatever they're giving out on the course I need to. I did pack more Power bars and Powergels than I needed into my Bento box (a small sturdy box with a velcro-secured top that sits just behind the handlebars). I had an official number me (ALWAYS carry a permanent marker!) and I hoofed it down to the swim start.

6:40 - I think I'm set. I am, however, a bit dehydrated, and I suck
down a bottle of Gatorade in between my frantic preparations

6:45 - I still needed to drop off my special needs bags about a third of a mile from the swim start. I wasn't the only one still scrambling though, and I ran into Scott Sullivan (Long Island's Ironman Patriarch) as he headed down to the water.

6:55 - Finally I enter the water. I paddle around and make my way
over to the right side of the start line. I want to be up front, but I
also want to avoid the hockey-like behavior of the faster swimmers.

6:58 - We tread water (as good a warm-up as I'm going to get), and I finally settle down.

7:00 - The horn sounds and the battles begin. The first 200 yards are a sprint to get ahead of the slower swimmers, and we just head straight out. As I suspected, navigation is not an issue since everyone is pretty much headed in the same direction. I can see the buoys off to the left, and eventually make my way over to them.

The jostling continues, and I try to catch a glimpse of the underwater rope that the buoys are anchored to. It's kind of like having a line in the bottom of the lake to follow. As we round the first buoy I can see the field has started to thin out a little bit, and I'm finally feeling warmed up.

I finally see the buoy rope, though I nearly take a shot in the head
as someone does a stroke of two of breaststroke to see where they are. I poke my head up a little later and see the swim finish. We jog the ten or so yards over the beach start the second loop. I glance at my watch and see 27 minutes. I'm on target to finish under an hour.

The second swim loop, though less crowded, still has it's share of
jostling. Hey Dude, we've got half the lake to swim in over here,
move OVER! I follow the rope for the last leg and then we're done. 56:59. A tad slower than the 55 minutes I had hoped for, but still under an hour.

The wetsuit "strippers" are lined up just beyond the swim finish. With latex-gloved hands, they lay you down on your butt and peel you like a banana, ripping the wetsuit from your body.

Now the swimmer has to bike and run. Let the games begin!

The route from the lake to the transition area is carpeted, and we head into the changing tent where we are met by a team of eager
volunteers who lead us to an empty chair and help us out like a doting mother. They shake out our swim-to-bike bags and take everything from us when we're done.

The bike leg starts slowly for me as the swimmer's nightmare begins. My speed on the bike is out of proportion to my speed in the water, and I get passed. A lot.

Ted Tierney Flies by me on the downhill out of transition. He's had a great swim and is well on his way to breaking the ten hour mark.

Today, however, I know that this is my race, not theirs, and I will stay within myself. I I keep my heart race below 75% where I can, though the first few hills push it up to 85%. Recovery would come on the downhills, or so I thought...

I took the time to move my heart monitor watch (Polar s610) to the handlebar mount. One of the simplest and greatest features of the s610 is the option to display your heart rate as a percentage rather than just beats per minute. I stumbled onto this by accident during a long ride a few weeks back (I thought it was broken until I saw the little "%" on the face).

My speed on the first big downhill is kept in check by the presence of a course marshal on a motorcycle. It's difficult to slow down, but technically I was less that three bike-lengths from the guy in front of me and unable to pass.

Being a big guy, slowing down is not something that gravity encourages on a downhill, so I sit up and let the wind slow me down just enough to get the course marshal to move on. Bob Spina, my triathlon spiritual guide, had been watching from behind.

As scary as the fast descents are, they are even scarier and a bit
frustrating when you come upon a pack of riders. You are only allowed to pass on the left, and there's not always room between the riders to be passed and the yellow line.

Not everyone moves to the right after passing. This is known as
blocking and is subject to a penalty. Now I know why.

I am forced to slow down again several times as I am unable to safely pass. Very frustrating, since the downhills are pretty much the only time I can actually pass people.

The hills prove as challenging now as they were a month ago when we trained on the course, but it is much cooler today, and I take in lots of water and Gatorade to stay hydrated and work my way through my Powerbars during the first loop.

There's a fifteen or so mile out-and back section on the bike which allows me to see the Steve Larson leading the pack towards the hills. He's got quite a lead already. Seeing this, I realize I'm not as far back as I thought, and I count the cyclists in front of me as we head for the turn-around. I'm something like 350th now, though I'm still getting passed.

Heading through town at the end of the first loop is very exciting, but I keep in mind a lesson I learned form the NYC marathon - don't let the crowds psych you up too early in the race. There's a tendency to ride or run a little faster when the sidelines motivate you, and you can easily push too hard. You pay for it later on.

I finish the first loop at three hours. Exactly according to plan.

The second bike loop proves more of a challenge, and I feel it on the first big hill again, but the downhills are faster this time. Though the wind is in our faces, I still manage to hit 49 mph on the big downhill, passing people the whole time.

The pain sets in on the long uphills this time around, and I fall back on a lower (granny) gear and rpm's as high as I can manage. Gotta save the big leg muscles for the run.

I tackle the last big hills (Little Cherry, Big Cherry, Mama Bear,
Baby Bear and Poppa Bear) and head into town for the next phase.

Great. Now all I have to do is run a marathon.

They take my bike from me and I head into the changing tent. Again they are very helpful. I change into dry socks and throw on my Fuelbelt. It will prove to be my best friend for the next four and a half hours.

It feels like I'm crawling, but the first mile goes by in under ten minutes. My heart rate is hovering around 75% and I'm as comfortable as I can be, though my stomach is a little sloshy from all the liquids I've been taking in.

This would prove to be the only real problem in the race for me. I had to slow down my eating schedule, taking in a Powerbar or Ultra Fuel every half hour to 45 minutes instead of every 15.

My game plan is to walk only the steep uphills (though the hills got
steeper in the second loop) and the aid stations. This last one was based on excellent advice from Ironwoman Bodil Arlander. I also took in a few E-Caps every hour from the start of the bike.

The first loop through town is mentally the toughest. The crowds are cheering you on and you pass right by the chute to the finish line and you know you have another 13 miles to go. Overall woman's winner Heather Fuhr passed by me on her way to victory in that last stretch.

It started to rain in the last few miles, and it felt pretty good.

I kept a smile on my face as much as possible (though it may have really been a grimace), and I found I was actually enjoying myself.

I pass the Olympic Ski Jumps for the last time. I'm in pain, but the end is now in sight. The marathon "Wall" never really hit me, though I suppose the whole thing was a wall.

Heading back into town for the last time my smile got even bigger.

Others around me were suffering, but the rush of nearing the finish carried me through the discomfort. Jose Lopez, the tri coach who got me here, was waiting for us in the last mile, cheering us on. He would probably be there, in the rain, for the next six hours until all his athletes finished.

Now I let the crowd's cheering get to me and carry me in that last
mile.

It all hit me as I entered the Olympic Oval. The emotions overwhelmed me as they had in my first marathon a decade ago, and as I danced my way to the finish line, I was fighting back the tears.

I guess the extra sleep helped.

I crossed the line at 11:52:17, ahead of the 12-hour goal I had set for myself. Everything in the race was just like it had been in training, and I had made it.

More post-race coverage in my next newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who was there for me through training, as well as those who cheered from the sidelines today, and everyone who sent the well-wishes.

Here's a rundown of the locals I recognized in a brief, late scan on of the lists supplied by the free Ironmanlive.com website Sunday evening. The results were incomplete at the time but you can find everything at http://www.ironmanusa.com

Larry Parker was the first New Yorker and 4th in his age group,
dueling it out with John Lovejoy in the second run loop to finally
pull ahead in the couple of miles. I think Larry is going to Kona!

32 9:48:12 876 Parker, Larry NY USA 4/129 M35-39
35 9:51:17 985 Lovejoy, John NY USA 6/129 M35-39
37 9:51:38 412 Baillet, Olivie NY USA 7/160 M30-34
43 9:54:38 905 Carillo, Anthony NY USA 7/129 M35-39
52 10:00:40 378 Tierney, Ted NY USA 12/160 M30-34
57 10:06:21 479 Cashin, Kyle NY USA 14/160 M30-34
90 10:15:35 2073 Farrell, Amy NY USA 1/2 W18-24
100 10:18:29 910 Spina JR., Robert NY USA 21/129 M35-39
130 10:29:52 746 Ozsvath, Robert NY USA 28/129 M35-39
131 10:30:33 467 Egbert, Robert HI USA 32/160 M30-34
132 10:30:41 1855 Dunnery, Christine NY USA 2/26 W30-34
146 10:35:45 1695 Stovickova, Magdalena NJ USA 4/17 W25-29
155 10:38:51 39 Mcmahon, Donna S. NY USA 6/9 WPRO
162 10:40:11 536 Lipsius, David NY USA 41/160 M30-34
186 10:45:49 1183 Spagnoli, Peter NY USA 25/91 M40-44
187 10:45:55 186 Jensen, Gary NY USA 24/88 M25-29
194 10:46:40 298 Rojas, Guillermo NY USA 28/88 M25-29
222 10:52:06 1745 Boyle, Mimi NY USA 7/17 W25-29
249 10:59:00 1393 Costantino, Larry NY USA 11/44 M45-49
291 11:06:24 1047 Hagin, Gregory NY USA 61/129 M35-39
365 11:17:41 852 Rampolla, Robert NY USA 73/129 M35-39
359 11:17:13 989 Borok, Jay L NY USA 71/129 M35-39
407 11:25:11 1621 Schneider, David NY USA 3/5 M55-59
439 11:30:02 1606 Butterworth, Simon NY USA 3/8 M50-54
457 11:31:56 Mcmahon, Brian Farmingdale NY USA 27/135 M45-49
471 11:34:30 Yurow, Pierre New York NY
505 11:39:39 Seely, Ronald Brooklyn
511 11:40:05 Amato, Joe East QUOGUE NY
554 11:46:01 Young, Richard Huntington NY
597 11:52:17 Barkan, Richard Long Beach NY
692 12:03:48 Tiase, Victoria New York NY
702 12:05:41 Murphy, Conor New York
745 12:12:34 Decker, Dave Levittown

2001 Ironman USA @ Lake Placid Images from the race Starts At 07:00 AM On Sunday, July 29, 2001