Ironman Goals Derail at Mile 51.4

After a long journey of training to join the elite Ironman club, everything unravels with a rusty guard rail and a close pass. The week/weekend up to the race went just like my training, perfect. Even the race was going perfectly up until mile 49 of the bike course.

Then, tragedy strikes! Another athlete with a freshly repaired wheel, performed a close pass to regain his position. Unfortunately this pass occurred, as my riding line was disappearing. To the right of me was a brick wall, but ahead of me was a guard rail jutting out from the brick wall, and no where to go on my left because of the passing biker. Light bulb, I'll use my right hand to push off the guard rail and keep my bike and me on the road. I overlooked the fact that I was cruising at 17-18 mph, so when I pushed off the rusty guard rail, I more or less jammed it with my right wrist. My front wheel hit the guard rail and I was launched from my bike with my left shoulder leading the fall. All would have been okay if my shoulder didn't land directly on the corner of the beam holding up guard rail. My shoulder sliced right open and I was on the ground yelling the F word for multiple reasons: crashing, the close pass, my bike potentially being screwed up, blood pouring out of my shoulder, and the inner layer of skin hanging out.

Luckily for me a competitor behind me and a spectator came to my aid and guiding athletes around the accident. They said I hit pretty hard and fast, and I was maybe a 1/2 mile from the next aid station. A couple of volunteers came from the aid station, and sacrificed a shirt to help contain the bleeding. Unfortunately neither volunteer had gauze on them so they called for medic support. While waiting for about 30-40 minutes, I had one volunteer go through my bike and fix any problems (dropped chain and shifted aero bars). At this point I realized that my time goals diminished in front of my eyes, but I should still be able to finish before midnight, and that I needed to get back on my bike so my support team would know I'm okay.

The medic arrives; I walk over to the ambulance ready to get bandaged up to get back on the hunt for the finish line. "What happened? Did you hit your head? Do you know what you're doing right now? Squeeze my finger? What's your heart rate?" Some of the questions that I answered numerous times to the same people. "Can you just wrap it up and let me back on the course?" The only question I asked about every 5 seconds I was in the ambulance. I tried to squeeze the guys finger off so I could get back on and prove that I just had a deep cut. Apparently the cut was too deep to continue and I no longer had the option. Final prognosis: deep cut tearing through 2 layers of skin and muscle. I received a couple of internal stitches and about 8 external stitches. They were concerned with how deep the cut was, potential nerve damage, infection, and blood loss.  I was worried about finishing.

I lost it, my day was over, my bike was transported to the transition area, and when I got to the hospital, they cut off my Ironman wristband. I had to make the call to a concerned support team (mom, dad, and Barbie), and let them know what was going on. They were waiting for about an hour, recalculating the time they should have seen me, growing concern for every moment that passed. Luckily they were awesome, walking to the hospital to comfort me.

I'm sorry that it took a while to get word out to everyone. I was more disappointed in myself for not being able to finish, and I'm still hoping that I can wake up and the race will be tomorrow. I would like to say thank you to well everyone! I know a lot of people were tracking me, looking for me to crush the race and cheering every step of the way. I'm sorry I could not pull through for everyone, but I did feel a world of support from every single one of you during the race. I would like to send a special thanks to my mom, dad, and Barbie for joining me in Lake Placid and taking such great care of me before, during, and even more so after the race. I don't even want to imagine what the race would have been like without any of you there; thank you SO much! I also have to thank my trainer Cami who started working with me at the end of March and whipped me into perfect shape for the race; I was well prepared for the event, and I'm only going to come back stronger. Thank you also to my roommates, and family who helped with the puppies, dinner, my sanity, and other things during my most bizarre training routines.

On a good note: I am signed up for Lake Placid Ironman 2012 (361 days, 5 hours, 19 minutes), I have the 1/2 Ironman at Poconos on October 2nd, and I'm looking for more with a vengeance. PS My goal times for next year are even more ridiculous being that I was on pace and feeling good enough to beat my goal times this year. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again

I have many other stories about the race: days leading up, the morning of, swimming without a wetsuit, being part of a school of 2800 fish in my best swim performance yet, the amazing story of NY Firefighter Matt Long, and much more.