The Finish Line

                                                                      The Finish Line

Louisville is known for having the best finish line of all of the Ironman competitions.  There is a historic street downtown which has been closed off and the city put a roof over to make it into a restaurant and shopping district.  It is called 4th Street Live and it is known in the triathlon circles having the most dramatic endings of any race.  The finish line is on the first floor and there is a second floor where the fans can cheer on their favorite triathletes.  The roof covering 4^thStreet Live seals in all of the noise coming from the amplifiers and from the cheering crown so the whole block is reverberating, almost like being on the inside of a drum.  The finish line is roped off so that the triathletes enter a chute that leads to a huge gate with a clock on top so that the triathlete can have his or her picture taken with the official time above his head.

                It was a dramatic finish for me.  This year I had finished the swim and bike in record time but, even though I had tried several times to run fast on the second half of the marathon, I just didn’t have the legs.  My thought was that if I could just keep moving forward then I could finish the run in the time that was allotted to me.  All that I wanted to do was to finish the race but in order to do that I needed to stay hydrated.  My body needed water and salt and so I drank the chicken broth that is given to the triathletes at the aid stations.  I drank too much of it too quickly and ended up throwing up a lot of what I just drank in front of a little girl.  The kid asked me several times if I was alright and I kept heaving up the broth while bending over in front of her.  That wasn’t even the most humiliating thing that happened to me that day.  I became cold on the run and had to ask a volunteer for a garbage bag to wear for the second half of the marathon to try to keep my body warm.  It is an image of myself that I do not like to recall; intermittently walking and jogging with a big black bag pluming over most of my body and feeling horrible.  I looked weak and sickly and anything but heroic.  

        Then, with just one block left, the adrenaline kicked in and I stripped off the garbage bag and started to run to the finish line.  Apparently the legs that would not work for me for the past twelve miles had one more block in them.  Also, when I heard the crowd cheering and the music thumping and the lights blinding me, I could no longer feel the pain.  Instead, there was a weird floating sensation, almost like I was experiencing someone else’s memory of passing through the finisher’s chute.  It was surreal, like I was running to heaven by running towards the lights.  All around me was darkness but straight ahead it was light and I could hear the crowd cheering on the finishers.  I started to cry because I needed the release but stopped myself because I didn’t want my finisher’s picture to be about an ugly face.  Instead, I high-fived the fans and raised my hand into a clenched fist for victory.  Suddenly I looked up, expecting to see the Jumbo Tron but instead seeing the American flag that was draped over the finish line and I was struck by how pretty it was.  Having never served in the military I hadn’t had the experience of seeing the flag in battle but this was pretty close and I now have a better understanding of the intense patriotism of the people who are in uniform.  That flag was my last memory of the finish line.

After crossing the finish line the Ironmen are given their medal and t-shirt wrapped in a hat as a reward for all of their efforts.  Then we are escorted off to the side where a photographer takes our picture.  That photograph pretty much tells the whole story of race day.  My face is thin and bloodless, my eyes are hollow, and there are tinges of yellow all over my skin.  I look like a lunatic in my official picture, the stress of the day showing in my face, but I didn’t care.  It was such a relief to have finally finished this race, to make the physical pain of the day stop, and to feel the release of the emotions that have been welling up in me all day.  The moment of crossing the finish line after a whole year’s worth of training was overwhelming. It took me seventeen hours to do it but I completed the Ironman.  It was a long and grueling day but it was worth it to hear the announcer say "Jeff Frazier, you are an Ironman!"   It feels so good to get that monkey off of my back because I haven't finished the race in the previous three years.   

It was one of the greatest achievements in my whole life and completing it meant so much more to me because my family was there to support me. Tracey and my daughters came down to the finish line and waited for over an hour and a half to watch me cross the finish line.  They didn’t see me until the last minute and so I didn’t hear them cheer but when I made my way through the chute to the exit they had leaned over the fencing to get my attention.  I kissed my wife and hugged my daughters and thanked them for all of their support for all of these years.  

When I went to school the next day the whole administration came out of their offices to say congratulations and then they made an announcement over the intercom.  My father-in-law and son-in-law came out to the race to cheer me on.  In terms of support it just could not have been a more perfect event for me..  The only thing that would have made it better would be if my parents were still alive to see me cross the finish line.  My mother and father would never have said it to my face but I know that they would be proud of me.

And finally, what was really memorable about the day were the crowds.  People cheered us on as we jumped into the river and again when we got out of the water.  As we clipped on our shoes to start the bike portion of the day there was a large crowd cheering for us.  At some of the major intersections throughout the bike ride and on the run there were people yelling encouragements to us.  I felt like a hero with all of those people cheering me on and I thanked them and high fived them as much as possible.  How can I give that up?  When I think of the cheering of the fans and the adulation of the little kids I begin to think that maybe I have one more Ironman in me.  I’ll take a couple of days off and then I will start training for next year.