The Long Walk Home

I finally finished the Ironman.  The race itself is over but that isn’t the end of the day.  After making my way through the gate I have to go and pick up my bag that I had dropped off with my morning clothes. A volunteer allowed me to drape my arm around her for support and then she gave me my finisher’s shirt and medal.  She pointed out where to pick up my morning bag from the convention center and told me that there was free pizza and soft drinks for the finishers.  Of course, I ate my fill of free pizza as a reward for all that I had been through that day, and then I began the long walk to the area where our bikes are parked.  It is about a mile walk to the bikes and this is after competing in the race for fifteen and a half hours.  I don’t want to make the walk but I don’t want my bike to stay out in the open overnight and I certainly didn’t want to come back to the transition area early the next morning to pick it up.  After I get my bike and two more bags, one with my bike kit in it and the other with my wetsuit, I have to walk another mile back to my car.  It is an anti-climactic and painful way to end the day but it has to be done. 

On the walk back to the car I check myself to see if there is anything that will cause me long-term pain.  Fortunately, I get away from race day relatively unscathed.  Along with the usual muscle cramps and sore back, I find that I am missing two toe nails.  This is one of the open secrets about being an Ironman; toe nails have a tendency to fall off and, when they grow back, they are often times misshapen.    

 After arriving at my house at about 2:30 in the morning, I decide that I will sleep in and have already taken a personal day so I won’t be going into work.  The responsible thing to do is to clean my equipment to make it ready for more training, so I oil down my bike and wash out the urine from my wetsuit.  Now that I have finished the race, I decide that I am going to reward myself with a tattoo.  I have it all planned out.  It is the Ironman logo within a laurel wreath, which symbolizes victory.  At the bottom of the logo I have the included the Roman numerals for 140.6 or the sum total of miles that are on the Ironman course.  This tattoo is my way of bragging that I finished the race but it is also a chip on my shoulder in that I will have to keep earning the tattoo or it will become a joke.  If I get fat, those people who see it will tell me that it is ironic that I have an Ironman tattoo, so I have to stay fit.  This tattoo is more than body art, it is a way to motivate myself to train and represents my commitment to triathlon.  It is a reminder to myself and anyone else who sees it that I am an Ironman.