So - once I passed my family, I did start to run. I ran around the Capitol and onto State St. I saw my sister here right before turning onto Henry. I did not stop though, I wanted to keep going. Shortly around the 1 mile mark, the winning woman passed me. Gave her a shout out. It was pretty cool seeing the top few pro women with their motorcycle escort. I stopped at the porta-potty. Still really not much to talk about except for the fact that it was a brown color. Saw Juice at the 1st aid station. As he is quite the accomplished runner, I told him I was dehydrated and he advised me to keep drinking water. I decided to walk for a bit.
We go onto the SW commuter path and have to do a short out and back right here. I saw KimK here. WOW - she always is in a happy go-lucky mood. This would prove to continue later when I saw her too. I really wanted to go with her, but I decided to hold off for now. I saw Anna starting the out and back portion, so she was maybe a 1/2 mile behind me. I was walking at a pretty good clip. I decided to run Camp Randall - how often do we get to do that? That was fun. I actually liked the turf!
Not long after this, I decided to run/walk. It was about .5 run/.5 walk. I did this for a long time. Saw the family at State St. Walked with my sister-in-law Kelly. Asked her what to do about my dehydration. Keep drinking. I refilled my gatorade bottle with water 6 times, I believe. I would eat oranges at every aid station. I tried pretzels - too dry. I ate a cooke once - yuck! The grapes were okay, but oranges were better. The chips tasted good and went down easy. I did try the "coke" - which was really pepsi. Not great. Found that orange perform is tolerable. I drank that too. I was disappointed that the motivational mile wasn't working when I went by. I knew that Rob had put a message in. It must not have registered, because I know that others saw messages.
I was on Dayton st. - probably about 1 mile or so from the turnaround when Jen caught up with me. I met Jen at HHH and we did a long training ride together in August. I decided to stay with her. We passed my cheering crew on Henry and up to the Capitol we went. I saw Craig sitting on the sidewalk along the Capitol - I was bummed that he was out. Hit special needs. I grabbed my long sleeve shirt. I didn't want to take a chance that I wouldn't get it back. I used it to mop up sweat until I saw Rob again and handed it off to him at Henry again. I stopped at the porta-potty again. I peed! AND it wasn't so brown! Jen and I caught up again and we stayed together. The commuter path was kinda cool because you could see the sunset - it didn't seem like it was so long since we had seen the sunrise. There also appeared to be a full moon. It looked full, I don't know if it was official though. We got to run through Camp Randall under lights. That was pretty neat. Jen's husband Jon was at the 17 mile aid station. I'm sure she was glad to see him.
On we kept going on the dark lakeshore path. Our run intervals were shortening. We started on the chicken broth around here - GOLD!! Once we got to the University Mall, Jen stopped at the porta-potty. I kept going. I was going to stop on the way back. Saw the crew near the turnaround again. Let them know I was doing okay. Anna passed me right before we started on the mall. Apparently, she was near pulling out the 1st time though. I stopped at the bathroom - kept on going. Didn't know if Jen was still behind me or if she was in front of me. I kept plugging along. I was running when we got on the path, but I couldn't see anything. So, I walked. I was still doing fine mentally. Just having fun. There were so many people walking together -- I was very inspired. I started increasing my run intervals. I knew at the 22 mile point, that it wasn't much longer. I also knew I could finish before 10:30, which was my goal. I saw Jen not far behind me when I was going back towards the motivational mile.
When I got to State St. - the crowds were SO cool. Several people would clap me on the back, shake my hand, high-five me and said -- "Just ahead and you are an Ironman!". I got pretty excited. I started running at the Square. I passed Laura in this last area. She got engaged at the finish line, and had I known, I might have stopped to watch it unfold in front of me. But - onward I went. I saw Wade at the corner by Starbucks. I ran over and tossed my water bottle at him. I didn't want to be carrying it across the finish line. He said the family was around the corner on the left. I ran passed and high-fived them - ran across to the right to my friends Marcie, Stacie, and Madelyn to high-five them. AND - entered the finisher chute. I had some momentum and I couldn't slow down. I passed 2 men in this area.. I wish I would have slowed down, but I was SO happy to be done! I didn't even hear Mike Reilly announce my name. Thankfully, Wade caught it and posted it for me. He said "From Stoughton, WI. Gwendolyn Regan. Good Job Gwendolyn. For the 1st time - You Are AN Ironman!". I got caught at the end by 2 people. They took my chip, got me a hat and a shirt. Got me the mylar sheet. Took me to the finisher's photo area. Out the other side where everyone was waiting. Except Patrick - he was apparently asleep on the street where they had been standing. Hugged everyone and walked up to Patrick and Ann. I was dizzy and I had to keep walking. Ann, Jen, and kids left. Rob and I started walking back towards finish. I was not feeling well. Stopped at porta-potty. Went a little. Now, I was really feeling bad. I was having a hard time standing upright. We started making our way to the medical tent. Anna was here - apparently. Ran into Dan who helped keep me upright. Got into the med tent where 2 people took me. They wanted me to sit - I was not going to be able to do that. They held me until I could get weighed. I lost 16 pounds. They took me back to a cot. Right next to KimK - who was STILL HAPPY!!! Awesome. In the med tent and still smiling. I was happy to be laying down. I was shivering and my lips and fingers were tingling. It took them FOREVER to find a vein. They would put the tourniquet on and pull it off. Put it on, slap my arms. Cut my bracelet to see if they could find one in my wrist. Finally got an IV started. I remember my HR was 60 and I thought this was good. Near normal -- DUH!! I just finished nearly 15 1/2 hours of exercise -- it probably shouldn't have been so low. My BP was 90/60. Again - normal! On the 2nd bag of fluids, they propped me up a little and brought me some chicken broth to try to warm me up. My fingertips were blue-ish. I guess. I wasn't looking. I had a massage therapist working on my calves. Felt good. At this point, they came over and told me that if I couldn't walk out on my own in the next 15 minutes, I was going to have to go to the hospital. The medical tent closes at midnight when the race closes. There was no way this was going to happen. I was still shivering. The Dr. came over and I decided to go to Meriter. They talked to Rob - he had gotten my bike and bags and would meet me at the ER. Got into the ambulance - no siren or lights :( As I was laying there, I realized that early in the season, I had seen a Ryan Brothers ambulance while I was leaving work and I saw that it said "The official ambulance of Ironman Wisconsin". I remember calling Rob telling him that I had seen it and hoped that it wasn't a sign that I would need a ride on race day. I was thankful that it was just dehydration and not a crash.
Got registered in the Er - they started a 3rd bag. Decided to change into dry clothes. I was SOOOO cold. And I had to go to the bathroom! Went, got changed, and immediately started feeling warmer. My nurse - Tim - also brought me pedialyte. That tasted good. I was getting tired of water. The PA had come in to see if I was ready to be discharged. He told me that my labs were all screwed up -- except my potassium was normal -- yay me for eating bananas! Got discharged, out to the car and home we went. We got home after 2am. I was up at 5 again for the morning. I even had to get up 1 other time to go to the bathroom! My mother-in-law stayed and was up at 5 also to drive back up to Kohler in time for work.
HUGE HUGE thank you to her! She broke her ribs a couple of weeks ago and I am sure the day really was tough on her. I was glad that she was able to take the kids home and we didn't have to worry about them. Granted, when I asked her it was so I could enjoy the evening and bask in my post Ironman bliss. Not so Rob and I could sit in the ER.
Thanks to all of my friends and family - Jen for making the trip also -- Kelly and the girls. Loved seeing you guys out there. Carol and Sally who shared some of my early training with me and of course - time in the pool. Grateful for you girls too. Heather and Jodi and all of the boys coming to watch -- so cute! Of course - Marcie and Stacie and Madelyn for being at the finish. AND for the flowers! Thanks. Wade - the constant cheerleader! Thanks to you for being everywhere that day and doing some of my training with me also. I know there were so many of you that were watching online, were at the various points on the course -- I appreciate all of your well-wishes and thoughts in my training and on race day. My co-workers who had to hear me complain of being tired throughout the summer or sore. Also - for the thoughts and cake and pictures etc when I came back to work. SO fun! Lynn for getting the ball rolling on my ankle issues in December and Dr. Rongstad and Lynn for doing a great job on my ankle surgery. Still holding up!
Lastly - to Rob Patrick and Melanie. My big hesitation with doing this in the 1st place was how much it would affect our family life. Having been through it 2 years ago when Rob trained, I knew that there would be some lost time with them. I think I did pretty well going around their schedules, but sometimes I am sure I was a bear to be around. Rob's advice and support was invaluable. Mel and Patrick were very supportive - for the most part. They all were my biggest cheerleaders. I love them more than words can say. People ask me if I would do it again. I'm glad I did it. It was SUCH an incredible experience. I don't think I will do it again. I will not say never - I was not going to do an Ironman when I finished Door County last year and 2 weeks later I was plotting my course to Ironman! BUT - I have a husband going for IM #2 next summer in Mont Tremblant. I have 2 kids who are growing way faster than I approved of. Just the other day, Patrick said "Mom - in 9 years, I am going to be gone". I didn't want to point out that it was actually only 8 years...
So - thanks to EVERYONE for your support. I met some great people training. I hope to see you all at various events. I have met some good friends because of triathlon. I love the sport. I am not going away from it - just ramping it down a little. I'm looking forward to doing a little more besides just swim, bike, run. Maybe some fall hiking, cross country skiing, yoga, weights.... But likely - you can still find me at the pool several mornings a week. Everyone - Enjoy the off-season! I know I will!
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