Ironman #11 Regensburg Germany

Regensberg Germany Ironman

 **  I am sorry this is a bit of a long report, but like I have said before, this blog acts as a bit of a journal for me and these aren’t just going to be a race report.  I want to look back at these and remember many things about this journey and the people along the way.... read it if you want... just skim it, or don’t read it at all ;) - James

I was pretty excited to be heading to Europe for the first time in over 15 years.  I had miscommunicated with my contact in Germany and in the 11th hour found out that my home stay there was over 300 km from the race site.  Once again, I put out a call to the IronCowboy Facebook page.  Solutions always come from the last person I would have thought.  I friend of mine from high school, her little sister (who I also coached in wrestling) had a friend who’s parents lived in the area - what?  Come on!  They were both retired doctors and more than happy to help me out.  Lindsay (friend in Canada) took in their daughter when she did some work in Canada.  They were more than happy to return the favor and host me while I was in town for the race - unbelievable!  I have no idea how this project continues, but for some reason it does.  This has turned into something much bigger than little old me, pushing the boundaries of human endurance, and trying (and falling behind my goal) to raise LOTS of money for the charity.

I communicated through Facebook and secured directions to get to their place.  They lived about 60 miles from the Munich airport and 45 miles outside of the race site in Regensberg.  My flight was long, but painless, and I arrived safely in Germany.  I secured my rental car, crammed my bike box, 1 suitcase and my backpack into a very small car, which I called the green hornet.  I followed the directions given to me and found the house with no issues.  Germans drive fast... no, SUPER DUPER fast.  The autobahn is an incredible road.  I was going 140 km an hour (90 mph) and I would get passed by cars, like I was standing still.  They would zoom by and quickly disappear into the distance.  When they would go by at such high rates of speed, it would pull my little car to the left just slightly.  I had to pay attention to the rear mirror to see when someone was coming or it would scare me when they passed.  

White Asparagus - yummy 

Peter and Marianne

Upon arrival, I was greeted by Peter.  I tall, strong looking, older German with silver hair and a bushy mustache to match.  I thought to myself, “Perfect, this is exactly what my German host should look like.”  He showed me my room and then made me some breakfast.  Apparently, in Germany they don’t flip over their eggs.... in the US we call this sunny side up and I call this gross!  By the time breakfast was served, it was too late to give the eggs back for some additional cooking.  I ate the half raw eggs and smiled.  At least they cook their eggs on 3 strips of bacon ;)  Full and satisfied, I took a shower and went and took a 5 hour nap - booyaah!  Germany is 8 hours ahead of my home time, which makes it the opposite time of day for my body.  Peter woke me up for dinner where I met his wife Marianne.  She was wonderful and cooked lamb, WHITE asparagus (hugely popular in this area) with a fantastic homemade sauce and small fresh potatoes.  We had a lovely evening chatting and becoming comfortable with each other.  I retired early to bed and I was still suffering  from being tired from last weekends Ironman and the international travel.

Friday June 15th, 2012

Today I woke up with military style Peters help, “Time to wake up James!”  I bounded up ready to take on the day.  Peter knew I needed to get a replacement tire for my bike and wanted to get a good start on the day.  Peter likes schedules and details, he reminded me a lot of my dad.  It was eggs and bacon again for breakfast and this time I made no mistake and showed Peter the art of flipping the egg to the other side.  He told me that they don’t do that here in Germany and I would need to do that myself as he doesn’t know how.  Easy task in my books.  After breakfast we headed out the door and walked to downtown Ingolstadt.  It was awesome!  Peter took me around and showed me a few historical building and gave me a quick tour of the town.  I love this place and could move to Europe in a heartbeat.  I love the history, the old buildings, the small shops and bakeries, I loved it all!  I keep envisioning war and what it was like to fight in and around these towns - just incredible to think about.  We found the bike shop, picked up my tire and headed back home. 

Old downtown Ingolstadt

Canons in Ingolstadt

Sunny would love the color here.

When we got home, I built my bike, repaired my wheel and headed out the door to find Regensburg and check in for the race.  For those of you that know me, I struggle (at best) trying to navigate the street of MY small town, when the streets are simple and the street signs are in English.  I was very worried about navigating my way through Germany.  Marianne loaned me her Tom Tom which is a navigation system.  I now have feelings for Tom and call him Tommy.  I would have never made it this week without it.  And it is now a must have for my 3 week adventure through Austria, France and Switzerland when I return to Europe after my next weekend race in Coeur D’Alene Idaho. 

I drove right to Regensburg and right to the race site.  AMAZING!  I love technology.  Like in Brazil, they had young people working the check-in who spoke English ,which made the process easy.  I walked through the surprisingly very small expo and found nothing special or of interest.  I was hoping to see some interesting or unique brands that we don’t have in the US, but no.  I had about 4 hours before the athlete dinner, and I decided to explore a bit.  I first drove out to the swim start area, making sure I wouldn’t have any issues finding it tomorrow for bike check-in.  Tommy boy took me right to the spot.... and my feelings continue to grow deeper.  I headed to old downtown Regensberg and WOW again.  I walked down the narrow, cobblestone streets with tall and colorful building.  I toured a few churches and tried some pastries, sandwiches and ice cream - all wonderful!  I wandered around and took it all in before heading back to race central for the athlete dinner.

Preview of the run course!

I was tired and tried to stay awake at the athlete meeting.

I sat at a table beside 2 younger looking guys, and just my luck they both spoke English.  One was there from Germany and the other was from Mexico city.  It was both of their first Ironman's and they were nervous and excited.  It is a lot of fun for me to be around people doing their very first Ironman.  I remember mine like it was yesterday, every detail.  I often tell my athletes, “You only have one chance to do your first Ironman, so enjoy it and take in every moment.”  Dinner was great and I hung out with these two guys.  With such a small chance of ever seeing them again, I wished them good luck on their race on Sunday.  I headed back home and Tom Tom to the rescue, straight home and he did it in the dark - what a guy!

Saturday June 16th, 2012

Pre Race meal like no other!

Once again Peter woke me up to make sure that I was on schedule, trying to quickly turn my body around to Germany’s time frame.  Eggs and bacon again started by Peter, and finished by me with the “American flip”.  Peter and I headed out the door on bikes to the Saturday market.  These were like the bikes you see in the movies.  Baskets, bells, big tires.  I loved it!  We biked into town and through the streets towards the market.  Highlight of the trip so far!  I was having such a good time!!  We walked through the market, where I bought some delicious fruits and fresh veggie.  The cherries and strawberries were some of the best I had ever tasted.  If I lived there, I would go there every week and get all my fruits and vegetables for the week... and I would go on one of these bikes and put it all in my basket ringing my bell!  Peter took me to a few more cool places before heading back home.  I packed my bags and headed back to the swim start to drop off my bike and T1 and T2 bags.  I then headed straight back home to rest up for the big race tomorrow.  Marianne had made me a special dinner consisting of fresh noodles, homemade tomato sauce and meatballs made from the butcher meat we bought at the market.  It was again fantastic!!  I tried to go to bed early, but have had a hard time adjusting to the time change is such a quick time period. 

My German Cruiser!

Fort wall to holdout the enemy

Sunday June 17, 2012 Race Day

I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep and woke up at 8pm MST time, 4 am local time.  Race start was at 7am local time, which was 11pm MST 9 (or rather my bodies time).  I gathered all my items and headed out the door for race #11 of the year.  I drove straight to the finish area and grabbed the shuttle out to the lake.  I walked into transition, up to my bike and looked at my empty water bottle cages.....“Oh my hell, what did I just do!”  I had forgotten ALL my pre-made liquid nutrition I use while racing!!! It was in the fridge back at Peter’s house.  What was I going to do?!  I didn’t have many options and started to look for the water station typically found in T1 at Iron distance races.  I quickly found out that there wasn’t one.... oh no!  I had one empty bottle on my bike from when I checked in my bike yesterday.  I had used it to hydrate myself while walking around.  This empty bottle did me no good on race day with no water available! I at least needed to get to the first aid station out on the bike course.  I was going to have to do the entire race,  mostly off of what was being handed out at the aid stations.  I had put a full flask of EFS liquid shot in my bike bag, and boy was I grateful!!! I knew that at the very least, I would have the needed electrolyte mix for some of the bike.  I had also packed another flask in my run transition bag.  I ran into an English speaking athlete from the US and I told him my current situation.  He offered me half a bottle of electrolyte drink.  It was what he had been sipping on during his morning prep and he was not going to drink the rest or use it during his race.  I gladly accepted and dumped the remaining contents into my empty bottle.  This should be good enough to wet my mouth after the swim and get me to the first aid station, which was located 10k into the race.  So much for not trying anything new on race day ;0!

Best Swim of the year.... Boom!

The weather was perfect and the lake was flat and inviting.  I ran into my two new friends from dinner and wished them well again, thinking I would not see them again. The gun goes off and we all run from the beach into the water and typical chaos ensues.  I battled for my space in the water and swam with resolve until we all separated into smaller packs and more room to navigate.  The swim was bizarre with a big loop around the perimeter of the lake followed by a smaller inner loop.  I felt good and just kept on swimming.  I latched onto a few people’s feet, catching a good draft.  About half-way through the swim, my left arm really started to hurt.  I had to dial it back a bit to manage the pain and hoped the swim would end sooner than later to minimize the damage.  I came out of the water with a years best!! I swam a solid and controlled swim of 1:07! 

Happy with the effort, I settled into the bike ride.  I had put out a challenge on IronCowboy that if I broke 11 hours on that day, I would like to see some donations come in for Quiet Way and the efforts in Africa.  I was feeling good, but didn’t push the pace knowing I have a lot more racing on the day and year.  It will take the perfect conditions and the perfect course for me to break 11 again this year.  With strict heart rate zones and tired legs, I was up against it today.  The course was beautiful and not ideal for a fast bike for me.  There was about twice as much climbing than I had anticipated and on the second loop of the bike, my legs were tired.  So, I settled in and fought to keep my head up.  I contribute my fatigue to many weeks of Ironman racing, travel and not using my normal First Endurance nutrition.  I found Michael (one of the boys) and biked the second loop with him.  I limped into transition feeling low on energy wanting badly to get to that second flask of First Endurance liquid shot. 

I headed out onto the run knowing that I was ok.  I just took it nice, slow and steady just needed to cross the finish line.  Again, the mentality of steady progress with one foot in front of the other set in.  Michael, feeling much better than I was, shot off like he was shot out of a cannon.  I wished him well and jokingly told him to come back to the finish line after his post race massage to see me finish.  The run was amazing and took us 4 loops through old downtown Regensberg, then up and down both banks of the river.  The city streets were lined with cheering people.  Cobblestone doesn’t rank very high on my list of surfaces to run on, but I was happy to be running on such history.  The entire run wasn’t all on cobblestone, but a good section on each lap was.  Despite the uneven surface, I rank this run as the most scenic of the year.  It was electric and beautiful!  Running down the narrow streets, among such rich history was so much fun.  I even forgot that I was tired and just kept running.  I ran from aid station to aid station and walked each one taking in all the liquid I could.  I ran with ice in my hands, to keep my body temperature low.  After 4 loops, I was ready to be done with this Ironman.  I ran the last loop, taking in all the beauty, knowing I would most likely never be back.  I rounded the final corner and headed through the finish shoot towards the finish line.  This feeling never gets old and I enjoy each and every finish line I cross.  #11 in the book and what a day it was!  I missed breaking 11 hours by 25 minutes, finishing the race with a final time of 11 hours and 25 minutes.  I hope people will still realize my efforts and donate to the cause anyways.  They had onsite showers for the athletes and if you wanted a massage you had to jump in the showers.... with no hot water.  I wanted a massage bad enough that I jumped it.  It actually felt good and most likely did my body some good to rush cold water all over it.  I partook in a great post race massage and then grabbed me some German sausage, sandwiches  and cola.  What a great day!  Trusty Tom Tom took me straight home where Peter and Marianne were very happy to see me alive and well.  They had been very concerned when they saw my bottles of prepared nutrition sitting in the fridge.  Marianne prepared me some more of those wonderful meatball and fresh tomatoes with a garlic dipping sauce.  I finished off the day with a bowl of vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries from the market.

Lap 4 of 4 still running.  Steady now.....

Running on the cobblestone in Regensburg!

HUGE thank you to Lindsay for referring me to Peter and Marianne.  They were absolutely fantastic and make this trip to Germany authentic and memorable.  They were fantastic hosts and will forever be apart of my journey.  Thank you. 

Also thanks for all my supporter back home and all around that send me positive messages of encouragement and support.  It never goes unnoticed!

And finally thank you to my awesome wife and incredible kids.  I miss them more every time I leave and always want to come home a better husband and father.... I’m just so damn tired;)

James - your IronCowboy!

Fresh food market Saturday morning

I would shop here every weekend.. SO good!

I called her the GREEN HORNET!

Race morning.... no race nutrition.

PERFECT!