LAKE PLACID RACE REPORT

I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks that I did Ironman Lake Placid. What an experience this has been! I want to thank Andrew Johnston for giving me the tools & encouragement in making me an Ironman. He's been an inspiration throughout my season and especially on race day. I am extremely grateful my family made the trek from Colorado, Las Vegas, Atlanta & Connecticut to see me finish my 1st Ironman. It wouldn't have been the same without you there. It was also amazing seeing so many friends on the course racing & spectating. Oh and thank you weather for being so beautiful and cooperative! Wow, I feel like I just wrote my Oscar speech.


I was so consumed with packing & worrying about the logistics of my trip that I didn't really have a chance to get nervous about the race itself. I was shocked @ how calm I had been. My flight left Wednesday morning, but I had to get in a ride & run before I left. We arrived in Syracuse at 1pm and then had to drive 3.5 hours to Placid. Of course my dumb GPS lady's route was just ridiculous, but it made for a good laugh between my mom and I. When we finally got into town, we made a pit stop @ the grocery store because I didn't want to eat any meals out before the race. I'm not typically the best eater, but I made sure I was careful with my food intake to take precautions for any possible GI issues. I cut out dairy for the week and didn't have any processed foods. I mainly ate chicken, steak, sweet potatoes, fruits and veggies. Between waking up @ 4:45, flying to Syracuse then driving for 3.5 hours, being exhausted was an understatement.


I got a great night's sleep, which was exactly what I needed. I woke up Thursday with a list of things I needed to get done. Do a 30 minute swim, check in to get my number, chip & various other goodies, pick up my bike from bike transport & then get in a 30 minute ride. It seemed like a lot to do when I was supposed to be off my feet relaxing. I got to the lake, put my wetsuit on & that's when the 1st "oh shit" moment happened. But really, what's a Pam Wiener race without a couple of oh shit moments? The zipper on my wetsuit came off the track and wouldn't go back on. I allowed myself to freak out for about a minute & thought about what my options were. At that moment it was swim sans wetsuit & figure out what I could do later. Andrew gave me a great pointer multiple times, don't worry about the things you can't control. I really only wanted positive energy leading up to the race and this was out of my control, so there was no reason to sweat it. This wasn't the worst thing that could happen to me. It sucks, but there are so many other things that really could've killed my race & this wasn't one of them. The water temperature was about 74, so it was fine to go without. I had a great swim. I felt confident, calm, relaxed and swam on the line (Lake Placid actually has a line in the lake below the buoys that mimics the black line on the bottom of a pool). I was interested to see how far away I could get & still see it. Of course forgetting it will be a lot more difficult with the rest of the athletes in the water. While I was swimming I thought of my options for the wetsuit dilemma. I had 2 friends coming up that have wetsuits, so I asked them to bring theirs or I just wouldn't wear one. Either option would be fine for me. Luckily my friend Karen's fit perfectly (possibly even better then my own). Great, mission wetsuit solved!


Later in the day I picked up my bike & as I was pumping the tire I snapped off the pressure release button in my back tire. "Oh shit" moment number 2 (only a few hours after number 1). My tires had enough air in them for a 30 minute ride so I figured I would just go to the bike shop when my ride was done. Luckily the the bike shop was right across from our condo. Although I ride a bike, I am not known for certain mechanical things, such as changing a tire. I know, awful, but my version of changing a tire is hoping I don't get one. I rode the 1st part of the bike and run course. It wasn't too bad, but I knew the most difficult parts were during the 2nd 1/2 of each lap. After my short ride I went to the shop, got help from the cute 22 year old dude, only to have my oh shit moments 3 & 4. It ended up both my spare tubes had slits in them. Better to happen pre race then during. I have midget size tires, so my tubes are smaller then most people's & need to make sure I have more then enough extras. I ended up buying 3 tubes, in addition to the 3 I had @ the condo. The little tutorial from baby hottie made feel slightly more comfortable about changing a tire. I made my way back to the condo, hung out with the fam & had a great dinner of pasta with turkey meat sauce.


I had another great night's sleep on Thursday. Go me! It was pretty crucial to get my sleep in since Saturday I probably wouldn't get much sleep. Friday was my day off & the only thing I wanted to do was drive the course. I rode it last year, but I really don't remember it. When we started driving it was the 1st time I really got nervous for the race. I knew the course was going to be difficult, but it was definitely confirmed when we drove it. When we got to the last hill it would definitely be tough, but it would be manageable. Through my training I've done hill repeats, difficult courses & a good amount of long distances so I knew I would be ok. After we got home I took a well deserved nap and then just sat on our deck over looking Lake Placid. The fam made a fantastic dinner of flank steak and sweet potatoes.


Friday night was necessary for a good night's sleep, but unfortunately it was awful. I couldn't fall asleep, woke up during the night for a few hours & woke up super early. My goal was not to take a nap Saturday so I would be completely spent that I would just pass out. I still didn't have any nerves, which was completely surprising. I'm not sure if I did and I was in denial, but either way it was refreshing to not be freaking out. I had to get in a 30 minute ride, 5 minute run and drop my bike off before 2pm. I was up pretty early and started getting antsy, so I went out for my ride. The section that I rode on Saturday wasn't on the course, which is good because I was having technical difficulties with my legs. They just didn't want to move. It wasn't that encouraging, but once again, oh well, I'll just be slow. During this ride I had another "oh shit" moment. I heard this crazy noise on my bike. I had no idea what it was so I pulled over to see if I could figure out what was going on, which was probably a long shot considering my lack of bike mechanic knowledge. Bingo, figured out the problem.I didn't secure the new tube on the back of my bike securely so it fell off into the tire. Ok good, no bike issue that needed to get fixed. When I looked on the back of my bike, the other tube fell off during my ride. Pam 0, tubes 4! I just went straight to the condo and had my mom pick up more tubes for me later to put in my special needs bag. My friends Linda, Karen and Wes from NYC came to visit. It was great seeing familiar faces. We chatted for a bit and then I went to drop my bike off. It was really hot that day, so I went back to the condo while the fam stayed in town. I vegged out by myself, which was nice and managed not to take a nap. My friend Steve from NYC, who just finished Ironman Coeur d'Alene (Go Stevie!!!), stopped by as well. We sat on the deck, chatted it up and just took in the scenery. We ate an early dinner of chicken with artichokes and some rice. I wanted to make sure I was done eating by 6:45ish, so I could get to bed early. I went downstairs around 8 and was asleep by 9:45. Then @ 1:30 I must've been having a dream about Ironman because I shot up in bed, scared out of my mind and realized I was doing an Ironman in 5 1/2 hours. That was the most nervous I had been. Thankfully I fell back asleep pretty quickly and didn't wake up until my alarm went off @ 4:00.


WOW!!! Race morning was finally here! It was a year ago (plus a day) that I really should've had my head examined when I signed up to do an Ironman. I ate the 1st part of my breakfast which was peanut butter and low sugar jelly on an english muffin. I made sure I was drinking water and a sports drink with electrolytes. I didn't want to start thinking about the race so I read a Cooking Light magazine. I then ate the 2nd part of my breakfast which was an Organic Food Bar. I managed to get most of it down. I was supposed to consume about 600 calories for breakfast. I took my water bottles out of the freezer, grabbed my stuff and had my mom drive me into town. We were staying about 1.5 miles from the start and this princess didn't want to walk if someone could drive me. Luckily my grandfather made all sorts of crazy sleep noises that woke my mom up, so I didn't have to feel guilty about her 5:00 wake up call. Shocking, but I still wasn't feeling the nerves. I wanted to write something on the inside of my arms so if I got into a funk, had doubts or just wanted to smile, I could look down and get some encouragement. I ended up writing YOU'RE DOING IT on my left arm and PERSEVERE on my right. I went to transition to put fluids on my bike, pump my tires and drop off my special needs bags. I ran into some friends along the way to special needs, so I got some good morning hugs. I was waiting for my family to arrive before I headed over to the water. I clearly didn't have my thinking cap on because I put Pam (not me, the cooking spray) on the outside of my wetsuit (which makes it easier to take off) before I put my wetsuit on instead of after. GENIUS I tell you! Some guy next to me said, "You're having a really tough time getting your wetsuit on." Thanks captain obvious because I was unaware of that little fact! Finally I got it on. My mom came over and gave me a big good luck hug and kiss. Of course I was bothered by something, so I got a little sassy with her (I'm blaming it on the nerves that must've been there that I was unaware of). My goal going into this race was cross the finish line within 16:59:59 and do it while wearing a smile more then showing misery. I really just wanted to enjoy myself and appreciate the fact that I'm healthy enough and dumb enough to do this. Plus I was in place that absolutely gorgeous and picturesque. I've heard so many awful stories from people that I didn't want to have that experience. I trained hard to become an Ironman and I wanted to be a smiling Ironman! I had my mental and physical game plan and I was going to do everything in my power to stick to it.


SWIM
I took a GU about 10 minutes before I headed into the water. It had been 2 hours since I finished my breakfast, so I needed something in me. I got in the water and was feeling pretty calm. There were about 875 1st time athletes, so I knew I wasn't alone. I think this was the biggest field in Placid to date, of close to 2,700 people. I had 2 pairs of goggles, but I wasn't sure which one I was going to wear. I ended up trying them both on and went with the darker tint. I set the other pair on a dock to be forever lost in Placid. I took some practice strokes and felt really good. This might not be so bad, but only time will tell. I stood on the side while the National Anthem was sang and just focused on the day ahead of me. I then made my way over to the front of the mass swim start. My positioning was a big debate for me. I didn't have any anxiety this season, but I also didn't start with 2,700 people either. I was about 4 rows deep and in the middle towards the right of the buoys. This was a bit ballsy, but I thought it was a good place for me to go & if it wasn't I was soon going to find out. I don't think we even got a countdown, but between the bitching around me of how hard this was going to be, I heard someone say we had about a minute, then BOOM the cannon went off. My 1st 5 strokes were ok and then I got kicked and had so much water splashing at me, that my heart rate sky rocketed and I freaked out a bit. Shit, this cannot be happening to me now! I stopped a few times and tried gaining my composure. I tried counting my strokes to calm down, layed on my back, doggy paddled and nothing worked for the 1st 5 minutes or so. I looked around and there were a few people in the same boat as me which was somewhat refreshing. I finally calmed down enough and started my swim again. The counting helped this time and I was able to get in a good groove. I wasn't sighting and to be honest, I was pretty scared to. If I picked up my head I had no idea what body part of someone else I was going to come in contact with so leaving it in the water was the best option. I knew where I started and that I wanted to make my way over to the left, so I headed that way. I tried gauging where I was based on other people. I know that's not the right way to sight, but it was my way for the day. I felt like I was picking up some speed and was passing a lot of people. I had no idea what my time was and until I got out of the water for the 2nd lap, I wasn't going to look. I made my way around the turn buoy and wow did that suck. I got kicked, pulled, hit on pretty much every portion of my body. Imagine your clothing in a washing machine. The socks are fighting your shirts, your shirts are fighting your jeans, etc. Well, that's what this swim felt like. Somehow I managed to get directly on the line when I made the turn. Sweet or maybe not since that's where most people were fighting to get. Probably 100 yards after we made the turn, I got nailed in the face. It knocked my goggles a little bit, which let a little water in. It would've been a lot worse if I was in chlorine or salt water. I pressed the lens in and went on about my way. I tried sighting a little to see where we were in relation to the shore. I remember seeing buildings to my right so I knew I wasn't too far away. As we approached I heard Mike Reilly on the loud speaker, so I started swimming faster. I got out of the water, put my goggles on the top of my head, looked at my watch and couldn't believe the time, 35:something. No freaken way, I might be able to break 1:10 even with that awful start. I got back in the water and booked it. I was directly on the line again. I was feeling good and confident. By this time I learned how to swallow water that gets splashed in your face and still managing to breathe without choking. I wonder if this is a skill I can use in every day life. The draft wasn't as strong this go round because there were a lot less people in the water. I felt like I was swimming very strong and then a ding ding went off in my head and I realized I still had about a mile to swim so I should slow down a bit. I tried drafting off of people, but they were going to slow for me. I was pulled down a few times by the same person. I definitely hit, pulled and kicked some people during this swim. The difference between me and this a-hole on my leg was that I realized what I was doing, so I swam away from the person I was touching. I ended up doing a big karate type kick and have no clue where I nailed them. Not my problem, moving onto the next victim. This happened multiple times. I thought I made the turn around the buoy already, but I hadn't reached it yet. This was now starting to feel like a longer swim then the 1st lap. I finally got there and about 500 yards later, I think I managed to bite someone's foot. I tend to swim with my mouth open, so as I was putting my head in the water this individual kicked and my teeth went into his foot. I could've sworn I was going to have a fat lip. Once again, I was just waiting to hear Mike Reilly's voice. Once I did, I knew it was time to get my head in bike mode. I got out of the water and although it was a great time, was kind of bummed I didn't go under 1:10.

Aggressive Goal 1:10
Realistic Goal 1:12
Actual 1:12:08
Division Place 35/119
Overall Place 1648/2611 (I think this was the final number, but not 100% sure)


T1
I ran on the nice carpet, made the turn and saw my family just screaming and smiling, which made me happy. I also heard a couple of Go Wiener's thrown out there. This was the 1st T1 where I actually ran the whole time to transition. I got my bag, found a volunteer and asked her to help me. She dumped out my bag and I just called out what I needed. Now that's service people. I decided to wear my tri shorts the whole time and not change. It's not necessary for certain body parts of mine to be in bike shorts for long rides, so I figured why take extra time to change into bike shorts. Plus changing wet spandex kind of blows. I got all of my stuff and made my way out to get my bike.
Goal 8:00
Actual 8:26


BIKE
I hopped on my bike & told myself to take it easy. I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to use for my nutrition, so it was really a guessing game to see how I felt and what I was going to use. I had 1 concentrated bottle of Infinit, 1 regular bottle of Infinit, 7 plain GUs & 1 package of Honey Stinger Fruit Chews on me. In my special needs bag I had more Infinit, 2 more packages of Honey Stingers & 2 packages of plain Pringles in case I needed solids. Based on my biking this season, if I went faster then 7:00 I knew I was pushing it too hard. Believe me, I wanted to go under, but it just wasn't smart for me to even attempt it. It didn't matter how many people passed me (of course without even an on your left or in some cases on your right from these other bikers), I needed to stick to my plan. Just pedal up the hills, use the downhills to make up lost time, use the flats as recovery & pick up speed once I recovered. I also was aiming to negative split if possible on the 2nd loop. I needed to focus on me, not those around me. I wanted to break my bike up into 4, 28 mile portions. Thinking of riding 112 miles when you're only @ mile 40 could really mess with your mind. It started raining a little when I was in the water, so the ground was a slightly wet. I didn't use a jacket or arm warmers because I knew it wouldn't take long for my body to warm up. Of course with the light rain, it was slightly colder then I anticipated. Right when you get out of transition there are a couple of turns and downhills, which aren't my favorite, especially with wet ground and a lot of people around me (most of them aggressive). I just took it easy & made sure I yelled that I would be slow on the turns & curves. I guess it was defensive riding. Around mile 5 or so there were a couple of hills that were pretty difficult in the beginning. By no means are they challenging hills, but it typically takes me about 15-25 miles to get into a groove on the bike, especially after a swim. I took a GU after about 25 minutes on the bike which was the 1st thing I had eaten since my GU right before the swim. I actually think I got hungry in the swim although I shouldn't have considering the amount of water I consumed. I reached the 8 mile downhill & wasn't sure how I felt about it. Anyone who has ridden with me knows my fear of downhills. I picture myself on the ground, not on my bike. The rain fell harder & the roads got wetter. Crap, just stay on your bike & be careful for everyone around you was all I could tell myself. I wasn't worried about speed, I just wanted to stay on my bike. I had 1 scare with a guy who was braking on wet ground, in the middle of the road while we're all traveling @ 30+ mph. I was able to avoid him, but had a brief thought of crashing. The next 15 miles were relatively flat. I looked @ my average speed & realized I was doing pretty well with an 18+mph, but knew the hardest part was yet to come. I just pedaled @ a comfortable speed. The wind was in our favor, which meant it soon would be against us when we hit the turnaround. I just had to remember not to attempt to pick up my speed when I saw my speed drop because of the wind. Of course I had to lose something on my bike, which is typical for me. My salt pills fell out of my back pocket around mile 30. Luckily it wasn't hot, so I wasn't sweating as much. Plus my liquid nutrition has sodium in it. I hit mile 40 & my legs felt extremely fresh. I was doing a good job drinking, which tends to be difficult when the weather is cooler. We hit the horrendous 6 mile hill around mile 45 & I just remembered my hill repeats up Kennesaw mountain. I was able to do 6 repeats there, albeit pretty slow, which meant I could do this climb. There was some relief after that bad boy. I was trying not to think ahead, but I still had some big hills @ the very end of the loop. We hit the hills that everyone talks about & I was shocked @ how "easy" they were to climb. I do much better when a hill isn't steep, so this was right up my alley. I opted not to go to special needs. My stomach felt fine, so I was going to stick with the Gu's on my bike & just use the Powerade drink on the course. I was in a good rhythm & didn't want to ruin that by stopping. We made our way back to the Olympic Oval to start our 2nd loop. I was completely warmed up, there was no more rain & I was ready to go to town again. Bring it Placid, I'm ready for you!!! The initial hills were much easier this go round. I also felt so much more comfortable on the huge downhill that I was passing people. In fact, I was extremely aggressive on them and wanted to fly down that hill. I of course came across some Alpha Males that didn't think it was acceptable for a girl to pass them, so I was getting blocked. Normally I am super aggressive in my everyday life, however I didn't feel it was wise to get in a pissing match here. I managed to play cat & mouse with a couple of them. Things were pretty uneventful for the rest of the 1st 1/2 of the 2nd loop. After the fact I found out that I negative split this part. Once I made my way up the 6 mile climb I knew I was going slow when other riders were encouraging me & giving me a lot of inspirational words. I seriously think I maybe went 4mph up the hill. I hit a funk @ mile 90 where I wondered how I was going to run a marathon. As soon as I realized the negativity, I looked down @ my arms & said, because you're going to do it, YOU'RE DOING IT!!!! Ok, simple enough. The remainder of the ride wasn't as enjoyable as the 1st time around, but I was seriously almost done with the bike. I utilized the downhills & straight aways even when my legs were tired. I couldn't believe it after I made it up the last set of hills. I'm 2/3 of the way done with an Ironman!!! That adrenaline took me back to transition with a huge smile. I made a conscious effort to appreciate the scenery while I rode. Each time I saw the beautiful water and mountains, I just stared @ it and had a great conversation with myself. Seriously, this course might be challenging, but it is absolutely stunning. This was something I told myself going into this race. Make sure to take in everything around you, even on the hills. There aren't many opportunities to ride in such an amazing atmosphere, so I took advantage of admiring it. Even though there were parts of this bike that were difficult and kind of sucked, I always had a smile on my face, especially if someone was cheering for me. There was absolutely no reason I shouldn't be smiling.

Aggressive Goal 7:00
Realistic Goal 7:15
Actual 7:07:31
Division Place 68/119
Overall Place 1952/2611


T2
My T2 was a lot faster then I thought it would be. I didn't have to change anything except my shoes & socks. When I spoke to my family after the race I came to the realization that T2 & the start of my run was a complete blur. Seriously I have no recollection of which way I ran out of the changing tent or how I even got on the main road. I know that I saw my family, but I couldn't tell you where I was or how I got there. This is the 1st time that's ever happened to me. I don't know if it was because I was super focused or Will Smith waved a wand in front of my eyes & made me forget T2.

Goal 8:00
Actual 5:13


RUN
I've done 1 marathon before and I did it in 5:01:01. I had no idea what I was actually capable of, but I wanted to have a plan whether I stuck to it or not. My goal for the run was to break it up into 4, 10ks and run the 1st 6 miles @ an 11:00 pace. Nothing over, nothing under. What I didn't factor in was the 1st couple of miles are completely downhill. I was running a 9:25ish & every time I tried to slow down it was only for a moment. I ended up walking a little initially, which looking back I wish I didn't, but I was trying to stick to the 11:00 pace rule. During my previous marathon I hit my wall @ mile 13, so the rest of the race was miserable. That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. I was having such a fantastic time enjoying myself thus far, I didn't want anything to ruin that. I made a deal with myself that as long as I ran the flats and downhills, I could walk the uphills and aid stations if I needed to. I carried a bottle of water with me so I could drink and take a GU at any time. I figured I would get some Powerade drink along the way if I needed it. What I didn't account for was how disgusting the orange/mango flavor was. Needless to say, I didn't drink much Powerade. My foot started bothering me within the 1st few miles. I couldn't believe this could happen to me again during a race like it did at Rev 3. I felt a little numbness starting, so I went off to the side of the road and stretched my Achilles. When this started, my plan was to ignore it and it will go away. It didn't last too long this go round. I guess I had my auto pause on because my watch stopped a couple of times when I walked through aid stations and when I hit the potty around mile 4ish. I wasn't really keeping track of time, but I did look at my overall pace a few times. I noticed that I was fairly close to 11:00 miles for much of the race (I was closer to 11:20s because I didn't figure out the auto pause time). I did walk more times then I wanted to, but I did this because I knew I wouldn't be able to run the whole marathon. I told myself that unless I was going up a hill, I couldn't go above a 15:30 walk. I also realized that I was able to run longer and faster if I walked. I think my run pace was anywhere from 8:45-10:30. I guess you can say I walked so I could run. The 1st 1/2 of the marathon was really uneventful. I saw so many friends, former coaches and family out there which was so awesome. It was great because there were groups of people spread out all over the course. I didn't know where most of them would be, but I was looking everywhere I could. I'm thinking that helped take my mind off of the marathon I was running. I talked to some people around me, got a lot of cheers for wearing TNT gear and just smiled. I was told by someone around mile 21 that I was the happiest person she saw out there. I got a lot of keep on smiling through the day on the bike and run. When you hear that, how can you not smile more? My legs felt really good and it didn't feel like I had just ridden 112 miles. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't speedy Gonzales, but I felt good enough to run a marathon. I ran into my friend Jenny around mile 14. She asked if I had any salt pills because I had a lot of salt on my shoulders. As a matter of fact, that would be a big fat no because my salt pills once again fell out of my tri top. Luckily she spared a couple for me. I tried taking in some chicken broth for the sodium since I didn't have salt pills. It tasted amazing, but I wasn't able to keep it down. I think because the Powerade drink was so sugary that it wasn't allowing me to absorb certain things I put in me. I ate a bunch of pretzels throughout the run hoping that would give me salt as well. I ended up playing cat and mouse with Jenny a few times, so I was able to talk to her. I also talked to a guy that was a TNT coach in Ohio. It was nice that people out there were enjoying their time on the course. The faster people I saw were so serious and could barely crack a smile if I said hi. That's just not how I race. The balls of my feet and toes started hurting around mile 17. I didn't see the sign for mile 18, but asked a volunteer and he said I just passed it. AWESOME!!! Then around mile 19 my left hamstring started tightening up. I didn't care what was happening to my body. I was a little more then a 10k away from being an Ironman. The hurting would have to be put on the back burner until I was done! I couldn't believe it when I saw mile 22. This is getting more real by the second. I saw a group of people I knew with my former NYC TNT coach on IGA hill, which is around mile 22 or 23. He told me that I looked way to fresh and I needed to be running since I was walking. I told him I was walking the hills and that I wanted to make sure I had a pretty finish line photo, so I didn't want to push it to hard. He laughed and told me that was ok as long as I ran when I got to Mirror Lake. After that hill, there's another one. I decided to run up that hill and saw my family cheering away. They looked so happy and I couldn't tell they had been spectating for 13.5 hours. I made the final turnaround and knew I had a mile or so to go. Then the unthinkable happened. I got a cramp in my left calf. Yeah I told that cramp to F off. I changed my stride a bit to accommodate it. I was in the final stretch and nothing was stopping me from getting to that finish line. I saw the Olympic Oval with all of the lights and couldn't believe my eyes. I heard Mike Reilly's voice and I booked it like I never have before! I guess all of those 1/4 mile sprints paid off because I was probably running a 7:30 for the home stretch. I made my way into the Oval and got super choked up, but had the biggest smile on my face. I made the final turn and heard the most amazing words, "PAMELA WIENER, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!!"

Aggressive Goal 5:00
Realistic Goal 5:30
Actual 4:59:12 (PR by 2 minutes)
Division Place 68/119
Overall Place 1556


TOTAL
Aggressive Goal 13:26:00
Realistic Goal 14:13:00
Actual 13:32:27
Division Place 62/119
Overall Place 1648


My family came over to me when I crossed the finish line and I thought I would ball immediately. My mom gave me the hugest hug and cried, which I thought would make me cry. Surprisingly it didn't. I think I was just so elated and on a natural high, the cry wouldn't flow. Or maybe I was just so dehydrated that's why it wouldn't come out. It honestly wasn't until I just wrote the words "PAMELA WIENER, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" that I had tears come out. I did make my way into the medical tent. Personally I wanted an IV because I was told that it would help me recover better the next day. They weren't too keen on just giving them out. They took my vitals and everything was ok. My body started cooling off and I started shivering. They gave me some chicken broth to warm me up, but I couldn't keep it down so I ended up getting an IV of anti nausea medicine. Once I got the anti nausea, I started shivering like a crazy person. I had taken off all my wet clothing, but that didn't seem to help. They put warm fluids in an IV bag, gave me 2 blankets and aimed a heater on me, but nothing seemed to warm me up. I must've been in there for at least 40 minutes before I finally warmed up. The good news is I looked WAY better then anyone else in that room.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day then what I was given on July 25, 2010. Not only did I become and Ironman, but I was happy and appreciated everything the entire day. I wish more people could feel what I did since I don't think I can actually put it into words.

If you've made it to the end of this without falling asleep, I give you a lot of credit. I've been writing this thing since the Thursday before Placid. Next up on my agenda is Augusta 70.3 with Team in Training in honor of an amazing coach, man, father, husband and Leukemia survivor, Andrew Johnston. If it wasn't for him, I don't know if I could've been an Ironman. This is the least I can do for him. If you would like to donate, please visit my link,
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/Augusta10/pwiener. Thanks again for your support throughout the past 7 months!

Best,
PW