How Do You Know If You Can Do It? You Find Out.: Ironman Lake Placid, July 22, 2012

How can I describe a moment that I imagined over and over in my head for an entire year?  So many months of wondering how I would feel mentally, physically and emotionally at that finish line finally culminated in one amazing trip around the olympic oval and Mike Reilly at last announcing, “Polly Jansen, Happy Birthday – YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”  Now that it’s done, I can’t stop reliving this moment…this fantastic finish to the hardest, most amazing day of my life.

I have endless images of highs and lows:  The body-marking volunteer writing “38 today!” on my leg, giving Chris a hug and kiss before the start and reassuring him that we were going to do this, the calm that came over me waiting for the cannon as U2’s “Beautiful Day,” played in the background, the “washing-machine effect” swim, giving Mike Reilly a “high-five” after the first swim lap, waving to my family on the way to T1, hearing “Happy Birthday!” throughout the day, Chris passing me on the bike course yelling, “Nice Ass!,” my slow-leak flat tire that a gracious volunteer changed for me at an aid station, coming into town and seeing my family and friends cheering wildly (awesome cowbell!), the slow, arduous second climbs on Rte. 86, the wonderful volunteer in T2 who pulled my bike gloves off for me, feeling amazing on the run for about 6 miles, giving my nephews “high-fives” on the first run loop, feeling not-so-amazing for the second loop, Randy “Iron Fan” Latza telling me I looked better from the back anyway, walking through the aid stations and telling myself, “Run when you get to the end.  You didn’t do all this training to crap-out now!,” cramps in the legs, burning stomach, Gu tastes bad, mountains are pretty, spectator yelling, “You know how to do this!” just when I needed to hear those words, Chris asking if I wanted him to wait for me as we neared the end.  “No, you go have your moment.”  Then, the roar of the crowd, the oval, faces of my friends and family, Mike’s voice, Chris hugging me as I crossed the line, tears, “We did it!  We did it!” over and over. 

This is but a snapshot of a day that I cannot ever adequately put into words.  I can’t thank my family and friends enough for their love, encouragement, advice, support and sacrifices to be there with us for this incredible event.  Above all, I thank Chris – the love of my life, my best friend and training partner.  Although we crossed the finish line 6 minutes apart, we were together all the way and I couldn’t have done it without you. 

Before doing Ironman, several friends gave me this advice:  “Just enjoy your day.  For your first Ironman, just have fun.”  I am pleased to say that I did this.  I learned a lot about myself, what worked and what didn’t and yes, I can see another Ironman in my future…maybe not the NEAR future!  Here is the breakdown of Chris’ and my results: 

Polly:
Swim: 1:08:45; T1: 6:37; Bike: 6:36:56; T2: 4:42; Run: 3:45:53; Total time: 11:42:53
Age Group Place: 9th; Gender Place: 44th; Overall Place: 349th out of 2,277 finishers

Chris:
Swim: 1:10:41; T1: 6:54; Bike: 6:04:05; T2: 5:24; Run: 4:09:53; Total time: 11:36:57
Age Group Place: 60th; Gender Place: 263rd; Overall Place: 304th out of 2,277 finishers