Ironman Mont Tremblant 2019…12:16:47. What an amazing journey! It all began the day after I completed IM Copenhagen 2018 when I had Mike register me while we were touring Germany! My 30 weeks of training started on Jan 21 with a lot of early mornings on the bike trainer, cold & snowy runs in the dark with Mike, Monday morning swims with Dale, long Friday rides with Kevin, and long Saturday runs with the MEC Ninjas made the process far more fun. Trying to stay consistent in my training, working full time, juggling the kids and home life single handily Mon-Fri is not an easy task, but neither is completing an Ironman. Yes the race is a long tough day, but the hard part is the countless hours of training that goes into this race is far more difficult. To have a hubby that supports me 100% on these crazy journeys cannot be described so…we will head to Penticton, BC so I can race IMC Aug 30, 2020! Staying in Tremblant village is electrifying during an IM. The whole village is buzzing and you can’t help but feel excited whether you are racing, spectating, or volunteering. Since we arrived on the Thursday I was able to do a swim and bike with the other Baydogs prior to race day and attend the athlete banquet. Race morning Mike and I headed down to put our nutrition on our bikes, fill up our T1&T2 bags, then head back to the condo to prepare for the swim start. The national anthem was played and the pros took off at 6:33. Since this is a rolling start you seed yourself based on your expected swim time. I joined Kevin in the 1:20-1:25 line and came out of the water in 1hr22min (53rd out of 109 in my age) which is a PB on this course. T1 wasn’t as fast as I had wanted but I wanted to do full change into bike clothes. Yeah…time to bike! This course is an out and back with a long climb at the end of each loop. The first loop was great then by the second loop the wind really picked up but I ended up a 6hr 11min bike (jumped to 21st off the bike) and a PB. T2 was uneventful but again not as fast as I wanted as I elected to do a full change into run clothes. The 42.2km run course at IMMT is amazing. The crowds in the village, along the course to the old village then on the shaded trail through the woods is gorgeous. The volunteers at the aid stations were the best ever and were there to help with whatever you needed. The run went smoothly till about 40km when I knew it wasn’t going to be good. I ended up losing about 10 mins in porta potty’s with 2km to go. I ended up with a 4hr29min run (7mins slower but ended up with 12th/109 in my age category). I had 3 personal goals for this race that I had shared with Blair and a couple of friends but I was only able to achieve 1. But far more was accomplished when I crossed that finish line. Blair and Andrew had once again signed up to be volunteers in the finish chute so I knew all day they would be there waiting for me with open arms no matter how the day went. Andrew had said, “Dad…this time I want to be the one to put the medal around moms neck instead of you!” I had expected it to be Blair but to get the biggest hug from your teenage boy when you are hot, wet, & yucky was so special…meant the world to me. As Andrew was walking me from the finish line with his arm around me…”Mom, I’m so proud of you! You did awesome! Someday I might do one with you, but I don’t want to do all the training.” To see the pride he had of what I had accomplished, and to know he was watching me during the days, weeks, and months of training means far more than any time goal. I’ll be back Tremblant…after Penticton!
