Ironman Wisconsin: Part I

Wednesday, September 7^th

When you’re traveling to a big race it’s always good to allow enough time for travel disasters. While not quite a disaster, I had not planned on being delayed in Philadelphia for over 6 hours before flying to Milwaukee. Luckily, my parents were able to find things to keep them busy while they waited for me. I eventually made it there, and we headed west towards Madison. It’s never good when you tell yourself that your bike split could conceivably be faster than your flight’s delay. And that’s coming from a slow biker.

Thursday, September 8^th

Thursday was the kick-off to the Ironman Wisconsin weekend. I wanted to check in when registration first opened figuring the line would be shortest then. The crowd checking in was comprised mostly of people like me who had traveled quite a ways to the race. I met a few guys from the NYC area, and there were lots of Europeans as well.

Since the Midwest crowd and locals (Wisconsin & Illinois racers) wouldn’t show up until the next afternoon, I was able to take advantage and move through registration fairly easily. It also helped that this was the 10^th Ironman Wisconsin. This made for a well-polished process as we moved end to end and floor to floor through the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace. The volunteers were wonderful and helped answer any questions that people had. After signing my life away and picking up the necessary items, I was led back upstairs and into the Ironman Superstore.

You can buy just about anything with that ubiquitous M-Dot logo on it these days. I picked up an IM Wisconsin poster and two water bottles, but that was it. I didn’t want to jinx my race, since I had not yet earned anything with the Ironman title or logo on it.

It was still too early to pick up my bike from Tri Bike Transport, so we decided it was a good time to drive the bike course to see where I’d be racing and locate a good place for my family to watch. Following the course was pretty easy. Although I had printed directions, it turned out to be more fun to follow the neon orange arrows on the road and aero helmet clad triathletes getting in one last work out.  As we made our way west, I made sure to note key intersections, surface conditions and, of course, the 112 miles of hills that I’d be traveling over.

Unacceptable cheese curds

We drove the Verona loop and returned back to a restaurant that we passed early on. We got our first cheese curds of the trip, but I was disappointed by their lack of greasiness or adhesiveness. To me, a good basket of cheese curds should be a pile of lightly breaded cheese nuggets that melt together, making it entirely possibly to pick up the whole order by firmly placing a fork in the middle of the heavenly mass. What we got looked like an order of sweet and sour chicken minus the sauce, white rice or fortune cookie. My quest would have to continue.

We made our way back to the race HQ to pick up my bike from Tri Bike Transport. This is a great service that made getting my bike to and from the race really easy. As I was picking up my bike, I asked if everything had made it to Wisconsin as expected. They were picking bikes up all over the country and responsible for getting them to three races spanning from Washington D.C. for the Nation’s Triathlon to Las Vegas for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Apparently, a few bags destined for Vegas had ended up in Madison, but with a few days to go they weren’t worried. Their response, “That’s what FedEx is for."

We headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before catching dinner and then heading to the University of Wisconsin campus. There we met up with Mike & Beth Eaves, whom I still call “Coach & Mrs. Eaves.” Coach Eaves headed up the hockey program at my high school, Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and Mrs. Eaves was dorm parent extraordinaire with the world’s best chocolate chip cookies. I ran cross-country with their son Ben one year, and their younger son, Pat, was in my brother’s class. These days Ben plays professional hockey in Europe while Pat plays for my beloved Detroit Red Wings. My parents get to see Coach Eaves each year when Wisconsin plays Michigan Tech, but I hadn’t seen them since my days at SSM. It was great sitting with them at the student union and catching up. They’re still some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and it was great to hear encouraging words from them just a few days before the big race.

Friday, September 9^th

This was my last real day to work out the kinks and get off any rust from traveling. As we headed down to the swim start I assured my mother that I wouldn’t be the only one swimming. I think she was a bit surprised to see close to a hundred or so people putting wetsuits on, peeling them off, in the water or just hanging out practically naked in speedos discussing the aerodynamic properties of their new races wheels. For triathletes, being discreet isn’t one of our strong suits.

I took a quick 20 minute swim just to get used to the water temperature, clarity and location of the sun. This was some of the best water I’d been in, and getting in the water before the race really helped me to relax . After the swim I headed out on the bike for a bit. I just wanted to loosen my legs, shift through the gears and make sure everything was in working order. Everything went well, so I turned back, threw on my running shoes and ran a couple miles to end my workout. I was pleased with how I was feeling, so we wrapped things up and headed back.

Friday was going to be a day to relax, pick up some last minute things and start to really get ready for the race. My brother John was flying in from New York, and Joan, John and Aunt Beth were flying in from Philadelphia. I spent most of the day relaxing and napping. I spent the rest of the time laying out all of my gear and sorting it into the appropriate piles. It was a last chance to go through my checklist of equipment and make sure that I had everything.

That evening I attended the athlete dinner, MC'd by the voice of Ironman, Mike Reilly, and the athlete meeting. This dinner was very special because they reserved seating under the stage for Team 9/11 and the other first responders who were participating in the race. Team 9/11 was comprised of Madison Police & Fire Department members. All said, there were over 140 police, fire and active military personnel taking part in the race. I also caught up with fellow Team Firefighter member Dave Grady. We’d been in touch online for a few weeks, but it was great to finally meet him and talk about the race.

Saturday, September 10^th

An appropriate lunch

We headed downtown again with bike and transition bags in tow. The area was packed with athletes, friends and family all getting ready for the race. The Ironman crew was busy placing barricades and building out the finishers’ chute that we’d be coming down the next day. The atmosphere was incredible. Everyone was getting pumped up for the race.

Once I dropped off my bags and racked my bike, my dad and I headed up towards the capitol building to the farmers market. We caught up with everyone else and headed over to a restaurant called The Old Fashioned that Joan had found. We finally got the plate of cheese curds that I’d been seeking. I was also declared the winner of lunch having chosen a ½ lb burger smothered in cheese and BBQ sauce and topped with bacon and an egg sunny side up. I’d been stockpiling calories for a few days now, so there wasn’t any reason to hold back now.

Once back at the hotel, I had my dad take care of last thing for me. I wanted to carry an FDNY Squad 252 patch for the entire race. The squad is a sister company of King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company, and one of our members has been friends with the guys there for years. On September 11, 2001 Squad 252 lost all six men working that morning. I was ready to race for them.