IMCDA Spectator Report

This is my second post in the past 2 weeks of watching a race and not actually doing the race!!!  I am definitely a better cheerleader than competitor.  It's a long entry.  It was a long day!


Sunday was Ironman Couer d'Alene.  Several former teammates were competing this year and we wanted to show them all the support they gave us at Ironman Arizona.  So we headed up to Spokane and drove to Couer d'Alene, Idaho.


About 14 of us rented a pretty big house about 5 miles from the city center.  On Saturday, Nick and I met Sedonia at the lake.  Most of the athletes were doing their practice swim.  Coach Dave put a swim on the calendar for us, considering the large body of water readily available.  It was a double-cap and earplugs required kind of swim with a 56 degree water temp.  

Being dorks and taking pictures with cap and goggles!

My hands always feel the shock of the cold (more so than my face), but after about 5 minutes, I surprisingly got used to it.  After the swim we went to the Volunteer Meeting and then walked around downtown CDA for a bit.

There are 5 mooses downtown!

A friend from college lives there so he took us to a really great restaurant about 25 minutes outside of town on the water.  

Amazing views on the other side of the lake

Coolest gas station we've ever seen!

Our favorite discovery of the day was Moose Drool beer.  We coined it the Coca Cola of beers because it just had that zingy feeling to it!  

My second favorite discovery was a huckleberry lemon drop.  CDA has huckleberry everything.  And, huckleberry is DELICIOUS!!!

We were up super early on Sunday.  We all volunteered for morning shifts so we could spend the day cheerleading.  Phil had bodymarking.  Dana was sunscreen.  Nick was a bike handler.  And, I was in the Women's Change Tent.  

The Swim
Since I was a volunteer, I had access to Transition and got to see friends before they headed to the water.

Rachel, Jim, Kristy, Luis, and Sam

It was cold.  It was drizzling.  And it was windy.  For those that were in the water, they all said the first loop was ok, but the rain and wind came during the second loop, which also made the water choppy and even colder.

The Change Tent
Meredith Kessler was the first woman out of the water and into the tent.  Typically the pros do not want to be helped as they have their own system.  But every single one of them asked for help.  They were all freezing and couldn't feel their fingers and needed help buckling helmets, getting on arm warmers, etc.  I learned Meredith wears socks AND shockingly she had her shoes in her bag.  I just assumed the pros leave their shoes attached to their bike.  She was so gracious and appreciative of our help.  I mentioned that I watched her win IMC two years ago and I couldn't wait to watch her win today.  She gave a big thank you and ran out.


I was waiting patiently by the door at 7:55 because I knew Sedonia would be coming up any minute.  Like clockwork, she came rounding that corner a minute later!  She had a red mark on her left eye where she got kicked.  She went black and blurry for a little bit, but pushed through it and was the 3rd female out of the water.  I stuffed her pockets, opened her water, fed her electrolytes, and she was out of T1 in 3:22!  All, I could think about was how very cold she was going to be!


Twenty minutes later was when the mayhem began.  By this point mostly everyone was doing full changes and they were all freezing.  Many of them were shaking so badly, it looked like they were having a seizure, which made it very difficult to dress them. I literally saw blue lips...multiple times.  One girl told me she was going to be sick.  The only thing I had for her to throw up in was her T1 bag.  So I held a bag while she vomited.  The smell almost made me throw up myself.  I asked for a new bag and another volunteer told me there weren't any and I had to stick her things back in it.  ARE YOU JOKING?!  I went outside, dumped her vomit and then had to put her wetsuit and wet clothes in the vomit bag.  I refused to put her non-swim stuff in the yucky bag and hid her belongings until I could find a another bag later.  


Overall, I really enjoyed the change tent.  Ideally, it would be nice if Ironman only let people that have participated in the sport volunteer for that station.  I saw several volunteers trying to put arm warmers on upside down or not understanding the products that were coming out of the bags, which just slows the athlete down.


The Bike
I found Dana after the T1 cutoff was over and she said there was a rumor that someone drowned during the swim.  Her captain then went to ask the medics and they confirmed it.  I was disturbed and I was angry (I was already annoyed with Ironman on other things going wrong that day, which I will have to write a separate post on later).  There are spotters.  There are kayaks.  There are rescue boats.  He's in wetsuit.  How can someone drown???  We went to get food in the volunteer tent and were sitting with some people on the rescue team and were fishing for information, but it was obvious they didn't know anything.  They did say they brought in about 100 people from the water.  Later the press reported a man had a heart attack and was pronounced dead at the scene.  And, then later the press recalled that statement and said he was recovering at the hospital. Thank goodness!!!  I just could not get the icky feeling out of my stomach for those first few hours and just had way too many scenarios running through my head about the entire situation.  

We watched a few pros start their 2nd loop (mind you, it's only 10am!).

And, then drove out to the bike course.  On the way, we saw Sedonia approaching Mile 50.  Unfortunately, she couldn't hear us screaming at her or the cowbell because Dana forgot to roll down the window.  And after that cowbell, we couldn't hear anything either!  ;)  We pulled over around Mile 75 and I put on my sparkle skirt, cartoon hands, and got out the signs.  

People don't want to cheer for you, if you don't smile.  But we loved all those that did.  We got to see a bunch of friends out there and we even got to see Sedonia on her way back up the hill.  This time she heard us and yelled, "You guys are crazy!"


The Run
After lunch we head back to the corner and all the super athletes are running by looking like they are on fresh legs despite having just ridden 112 miles.  I get that they are fast and in their "zone."  But if these people appreciate the support, they show no acknowledgement whatsoever.  And, I wasn't going to waste anymore energy on them.  I gave up and went for a walk.  I knew that in another hour or two, the people that actually would want the support would be ready for us.  First and second place male finished just as I was approaching Sherman Ave.  I figured Meredith Kessler would be in less than an hour so I hung around there until she came through.  

I headed back to our spot and got out the signs.  By this time in the day people smiled and laughed and gave high fives (actually high fours to me) and actually acknowledged that there were spectators on the course.  It was time to refuel with a 5pm snack and some huckleberry ice cream.  Eventually, we headed over to the grandstands to wait for Sedonia.  

We saw her three times on the run and we knew she had a tough day.  The bike course changed this year and most people commented that it was harder than expected.  They never got a break.  They'd climb and get to a flat with headwind.  And then they had to climb some more.  Sedonia came running through and we went to meet her on the other side.  She was not feeling well at all.  

Making a bed for herself on the sidewalk

I got to help TWO people vomit in a bag that day! :)  I told her how pretty her hair was after 140.6 miles.  That's what she remembers.  ha ha.  Nick convinced her to get to the med tent.


Back to the grandstands to watch Jim and George come in. We refueled again with some soup at 10pm (seriously, we have learned our lessons being out there for 18 hours in the past as spectators) and headed to toward the last aid station.  By this time of night the sun has finally gone to bed (the beauty of CDA race is the sun is up at 5am and doesn't go down until after 9pm) and the hobbling and shuffling is rampant.  

9pm and still light out!

I talked and walked with a whole lot of people.  And, saw the fireman.  I think this is his 9th Ironman.  He walks the entire marathon in his full uniform to raise money for two Firefighter related charities.  It is an extra 30lbs and the suit gets upwards of 130 degrees. 

Hanging out at the last aid station, we saw Lori, Elise, Emily, Sam, and Kristy pass through.  We then ran (yes, I ran in cartoon hands while carrying 2 signs) all the way back to the grandstands to see the finish.  

The Finish
There was a huge group running just before the end.  Mike Reilly was trying to bring them in.  He yelled when there was 30 seconds, but we knew she wasn't going to make it in time.  She ran down the finish chute with a sign that said, "Dear Asthma, I Win" and crossed at 17:00:23  He told her that she wasn't an official Ironman, but that she was in our hearts and got the entire crowd to yell to her, 'You are an Ironman!'  And, then one of the other finishers gave her his medal.  She took a victory lap up and down the grandstands with her sign.  Everywhere I looked, people were in tears.  


Here's a video of the last few minutes and what happened after midnight.