IMMD v2.2: Epilogue

Wow, what a day!  I am an Ironman!  So many changes, from a 2-week delay (v2.0) to a 1.2mi swim (v2.1) to a 3000m swim (v2.2), all the mental hurdles and setbacks, the emotional highs and lows... wow.

As soon as I made my way through the finisher chute and took lots of pictures, my minions helped get me into warm clothes, and into the car for the long(ish) ride back to our rental house.  I shivered the entire way, I was still so cold!  And when we got to the house, I found it decorated for me -- so awesome!

Joann had come home during part of the bike portion of the day and decorated the house!  And she got me a cake too!  I can't even imagine all the planning and hard work that she put into organizing my support crew (the minion theme was all her idea), but I am so very appreciative!

We all stayed up way too late reminiscing about the day.  Joann had tons of food prepared, since nobody knew exactly what I would be in the mood to eat.  I ended up with a couple meatballs and some fruit (and of course a couple hard ciders).  Since it was nearly 4am when we finally went to bed, I decided to pass on getting up to go to the expo at 7am.... but then I woke up with a change of heart and decided I wanted a finishers jacket!  Luckily Heidi and Sweeney agreed (well.. Heidi offered and Joann might have tasked Sweeney, but he didn't complain) to go for me.

Joann and Daz whipped up a huge breakfast, Sweeney brought crabs (way too many, on accident), and my parents came over to celebrate with us.

Heidi W drove down for the day also and brought another cake!  We had so much food -- pulled pork, meatballs, mac & cheese, potatoes...and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things!  And lots of cider and wine!

I really had the best time hanging out with my friends in our rental house, even though my body hurt too much to dance around and act silly with them, and I was still too cold to sit outside by the fire for too long.  It really did take a long time for my body temperature to regulate itself again.

It was an amazing weekend.  I have some amazing friends.  The only thing I would've changed about this weekend would be to have Heidi T and Dan be able to stay longer on Sunday.

I got home around 2:30 on Monday and slept for a solid 5 hours.  I woke up and took some medicine (for this horrible cough I'd developed from my nose running all day in the cold) and did a little research.  I saw that Joann posted at 5:18pm that I was off the bike and in transition.  I am so confused because that race official told me that I only had 10 minutes.  Even without the delay, I would have had until 5:40pm to get out on the run course.  What the hell??  This confusion, combined with Deb's suggestion, I composed an email to Ironman, asking about the timing of the race.  I didn't really expect much of a response, but at least I did something proactive.

Then, on Friday, I got my Ironman tattoo!  Rob had mentioned that he was going on Saturday to get some work done and that I should go with him, but when I called, they were booked solid all weekend.  They also didn't make appointments over the phone, so I stopped by on my way home from work...and it turned out they could do it that evening!  Yikes!

Luckily, I already knew what I wanted and where I wanted it. I'd thought about personalizing it for the race - I've seen people add a crab and/or the hurricane symbol - but decided that I wanted simple.

And then, I woke up Saturday morning (before 6am because my body is still in the habit of waking up way too early on the weekends) and saw the response from Ironman, which I mentioned in my race report:

I couldn't believe it.  I knew I was an Ironman, and everybody who matters to me considered me an Ironman, but now the whole world knows.  I am an official Ironman Maryland finisher!! And I couldn't be happier.

It took a couple days, but they did update my official results, and I got my official finisher certificate!