I am beyond proud of Mark! Last weekend he attained one of his biggest, and I think hardest, goals. He became an official Ironman! 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 run...one after the other! And he did it in 14 hours!
Mark has been doing triathlons for about eight years. He started with a sprint tri in Bountiful, did that for a couple years, and then moved to some Olympic distance tris, including the Echo Tri, the Cache Valley Tri, the Ogden Valley Tri, and the Xterra. He also ran the St. George Marathon in 2006. I think he set his sights on the Ironman as soon as he was hooked on triathlon, which was probably from the beginning. It always seemed like a distant goal to me. But, last year he told me he wanted to sign up for the St. George Ironman 2011. My first thought was 'really???' But, I tried to be supportive, and it wasn't always easy. But, it was exciting to see him work toward such a major goal.
He hit a few bumps in the road along the way, including breaking his thumb a few months ago which included surgery to put a pin in! But, he was back on the bike with the cast and all, he even rode on the trainer for 6 hours one Saturday because he couldn't keep his balance outside! The last few weeks before the race he concentrated on swimming since he hadn't been able to swim after the surgery.
We headed down to St. George on May 5 and spent a few days testing the water temp at Sand Hollow Reservoir, swimming with the kids, spending loads of money at the "Official" Ironman store, and eating out WAY too much! :) Our great friends, the Christensens, were kind enough to let us stay in their condo, which was amazing! Mark's family came up to support him, and that was such a great thing for me. They helped so much with the kids. I couldn't have done it without them!
On race day Mark, his dad, and I all set our alarms for 3:30am, just to make sure! :) Then Devin, Terry, and I dropped Mark off at his shuttle and headed for our shuttle. The race started at 7:00am. The most emotional part of the day was seeing Mark walk down to the water with thousands of other triathletes. It was amazing to know how hard he had worked, and now the day was here! I think the swim was what Mark worried about the most because he tends to cramp up, and the water was still a chilly 62 degrees. He got out of the water at about 8:30, and little did we know he had cramped up BIG time. In fact, the safety crew wanted to pull him out several times, but he said he could see the finish of the swim and refused. He said he had never had such severe cramps in every muscle of his leg. So he "cried like a little girl", prayed, and eventually the cramps subsided. After hearing that story, I was even more relieved to see him get on the bike!
The bike also had it's share of drama. Mark said the first 50 miles his front tire was making a horrible racket. He stopped 4 or 5 times, took the wheel off, spun it, looked at it, put it back on, but it continued. He saw a bike mechanic on the side of the road and stopped to have him take a look. Les, a bike mechanic of 40+ years, told him his spokes were loose! What??? We had just taken it in to Biker's Edge in Kaysville two days before we left! I was ticked when I heard that! Les told Mark it would take him a good 5-10 minutes to tighten the spokes, but Mark told him to do it. After that, no problems.
When we saw Mark get off his bike and start the marathon he looked awesome! He seemed happy, energetic, it was great! He even stopped to hug all of us. I could tell he was trying to have a great experience and enjoy every moment.
It was a long day hanging out in 95 degree heat with the kids, but it was all worth it when we saw him come down the hill to the finish line at 9:15pm. He had hoped to finish around 8, but considering the cramping and the bike issues, 9:17:08 was an excellent time!! I screamed so loud when we saw him that Sam was mad at me for at least 45 minutes. I scared him to death! :) You can tell he's mad in the pictures!
Mark said the race was so well organized. He said there were volunteers at every transition, they even dismounted and mounted their bikes for them! At the aid stations they had everything from Gatorade, bars, and gels, to chicken broth! I even saw a guy running with a piece of pizza and a woman running with a can of beer! (I would have needed a few of those!) At the end there were two volunteers just for Mark, Vivian and Dan. They met him with a reflective blanket and walked him over to where we were. Then they signed him up for his post-race massage with Roger. (Mark made it a point to remember their names :))
I have seen Mark really happy lots of times, and this was one time I will never forget. Seeing him accomplish a goal he had worked so hard for was amazing!! Way to go, Mark! You are an example to all of us of hard work, determination, and dedication!! In the words of the Ironman announcer: Mark Spalding, You're an Ironman!
