IronNutz: 2008

Its time for an Update on Ironman Arizona 2008 Nov 23^rd. So all of you have an idea this was the 2^nd Full Ironman in 3 weeks of eachother by Keith & I. We are Nutz …….IronNutz!

I know many of you will already delete me but to those of you that are sitting fixated waiting to hear the story you will be pleasantly surprised (I hope).

As far as the race goes I had a PR or my personal best time ever! I toed the finish line in 14 hours and 4 minutes which beats my best time prior by 1 hour and 15 minutes so I am very happy about that.

We launched our company What R U Nutz TM on the Tuesday prior to Race day and had a tent in Ironman Village to show our brand(s) IronNutz TM and Life is Nutz TM . Our CEO Bill Beers and Salesman Mike Barry did a great job setting up and selling our Nutz Gear and showing the brand. They did get some help from Keith, Joe, Diane and the 2 Jen Browns as well. We are very excited about our beginning and hope you take the time to check out our site(s) www.ironnutz.com and www.whatrunutz.com to support our company and our causes. Its Profit for Charity and as you see below we had our logo dude up on Times Square last week as well. Its been quite an exciting time for all of us.

I can tell you this has been an exciting week and Joe had his PR at 12 hours and 2 minutes. He kicked mine and Keith’s butts big time. He has trained very hard to do this and given that 2 weeks before he had an injury is another testament to his Nutzness. Congrats Joey!

A friend of our family (mostly my brother Mike the IronShirker) stopped by with his family the day before race day to our tent and visited in the Ironman Village. His name is Jay Finkelstein. His wife Stacy and daughter Dana also came with him. Dana is a budding Pro Golfer at the tender age of 15 and it was really great to see them and meet them. I hadn’t seen Jay in 30 years. It was a very cool moment for me. I will not forget the fact they came by to see and support us Nutz and it helped spark my best time yet!

I also had the opportunity to watch my wife run in the 5 K in the morning Saturday and she did awesome. She averaged 8 minute miles and was amazing strong through the finish. Later that day I had the opportunity to meet Graham Fraser the President of NAS Sports and Ironman and we chatted for quite awhile at our tent and learned of his kids love for sports and how grateful he was to have them. He spoke of how proud he was of his daughter’s IM accomplishment and his son’s passion for hockey and the gratitude he felt for them and his family in his life. That was a really cool experience. I just love the Ironman and TRiathlete community. They are mostly great examples of fellowship and comradery going in this world.

We were also welcomed at our Favorite Hotel in AZ and probably across the country by Leilani, Danielle, Stephanie, Tyler & Erin at the Marriott Towne Place Suites on S Priest Dr in Tempe. They had a sign for all us Nutz and the other IM competitors staying there. Leilani stored all our gear in her office for the week leading up to the IM and it filled her office. She also volunteered at the Ironman doing Registrations on Friday and then first thing Sunday Morning of Race Day she was doing bodymarking and she marked myself and Keith. It meant allot to have that happen. I am not sure if Leilani is aware of that but she is now. Leilani and her staff are a great support to us for all 3 of my IM’s in AZ and also Keith’s 2 IM’s here and Joey’s 5^th or 6^th here. They all went 150% beyond their own jobs and accommodated us and the rest of the ahletes to help us feel comfortable and provided for to help us get ready for a great race day experience.

As my friend and brother Nut Keith says the crossing of the finish line is important to each one of us in many ways but even more important is the journey along the way and the friends we meet and the support we get from our existing friends and family. Then there are the new friends you meet at each event whether they are competing or supporting their loved one(s). We as athletes can be a bit difficult at times the days leading up to the race and having all the support of friends, family and the 1000’s of volunteers make this huge event happen with all of our personalities crashing in on eachother.

As a company we decided we would offer a free BBQ the night before the race for anyone at the hotel who wanted a quick bite to eat and some fellowship to share before the big day. Bill and Mike stepped up and coordinated the whole thing and laid out a spread fit for a King or Queen. Suffice it to say we had allot of food leftover. We met a really cool families from Chicago, Texas, Green Bay (with son from Boston and daughter from Madison) and some really neat guys from Canada as well (Edmonton and Calgary). It was great to see them all and share our experience strength and hope with them. Bill looked at me and had a great suggestion with the leftover food which was to offer it to a shelter or mission in the area. Mike went and asked Tyler if he could find some phone numbers for these places for us to call which he did. Unfortunately it was Saturday and around 8:30 so there wasn’t anyone open to accept our goods. We knew a small community right up the road called Guadaloup AZ that was a community that could use these goods so we loaded up the Van and headed towards Guadoloupe to see if we could find some families that could benefit from our food. We drove past a church with some lights on and hoped we could find actual folks to help but we drove through and couldn’t find anyone so we decided to turn around and go back to that church and drop the food off and ask if they could find some needy families after their services to help. As we got closer to the Church my wife Jen looked over and saw another smaller building with lights on and some cars out front. We pulled into the parking area infron of the building and looked up on the building itself and saw a very familiar symbol on the building. 3 of the 5 folks in the Van are in recovery and what was on that building will be etched in our minds forever as it was another example of being exactly where we were supposed to be doing exactly what it is we were supposed to be doing. It was a 12 step Recovery symbol on that building and the folks in that building were wrapping up their business and were very happy to get the food and knew of some families needing it right away. Our Video dude Brad chronicling our experiences at all of these events nicely shut his camera off out of respect to this very spiritual experience. Some reading this may not totally understand but many of you will. My brother Rich named this experience “The Scoop from Guadoloupe 2008”.

We came back after and sat together in the hotel room and each one of us talked about what just happened and what it meant to us. Bill, Mike, Jen, Brad & I all shared together and that was also a highlight of my time in AZ for the Ironman. Only 8 hours til we had to be down at the race getting ready for the 7AM gun! Time to get some sleep.

Race morning came and we all had some good sleep except for Joe but he rarely sleeps well. We suited up in our wetsuits and took the last pre-race pics with all our loved ones and IronSherpas and headed down to the deep water start. Some very private moments happen from this time of 6:45 til the gun goes off for everyone. Its quite an exhilarating and anxious time and a very surreal experience. Joe and I stayed together at the start and we lost Keith somewhere in the water but met up just before and wished eachother well and gave the look of the next chapter about to start again. It was very cool. The water and the weather were gtreat. The National Anthem was sung, the crowds were screaming and then the gun went off. I have to be honest out of all 4 IM’s I have done this was the most difficuly swim start. I felt like I got my butt kicked around for well over 15 minutes, usually it lasts 5 maybe 7 minutes tops of that washing machine, get whacked in the head, grab the legs & arms, slithering off bodies type feeling. I really was starting to get concerned this would last way too long. One guy I had to tell him to stop grabbing me and I felt bad cause I could tell he was spooked but there was nothing I could do but remind him he was in a wetsuit and he wouldn’t sink of drown. Then I swam away from him as far as I could. Finally it broke up and I could get into a swim routine for awhile. After the mass swim start broke up I felt like I had a great swim going and felt as if I would have my best time yet in an IM. I think I was at exactly the same time as me last best time so I really think that washing machine start really took some minutes away from me but I was out in 1 hour 47 minutes and happy one segment of the Ironman was in the books. Off into transition tent to change into my bike gear and sunscreen up and get on my bike. Pretty good time in transition and off to the Beeline Highway and the Salt River Maricopa Desert for 3 loops of my best bike ride in a IM yet! I hoped off the bike at 6 hours 36 minutes which is 25 minutes faster than any IM bike segment I have done. I was back in transition tent changing into my run gear and feeling pretty good. Thanks to my chiropractor Dr Khoury, my Massage Therapist Dennis Nowak and Dr Joe and of course my wife Jen I felt no pain in my Achilles which had plagued my marathon in Florida just 3 weeks earlier. I didn’t have my best PR marathon but I was able to run almost the entire thing except the one big hill they have on the course.

As some of you know I dedicated this IM to Kevin Kelly who lost his battle with Cancer earlier this year. I want their family to know that one of the things that I saw in this IM that I hadn’t seen in previous IM’s was how many folks with the name Kevin on their bibs. It was truly another sign that we have someone else looking over us! It made me feel really good whenever I saw a Kevin on the road whether on the bike or the run. I have listed all the Kevin’s below just to show Melissa I am not kidding and I think it’s also pretty awesome that someone who actually shares his name finished as well in my same age group and 22 spots ahead of me. That is just awesome! He also shares the name Kelly for the first person I did an IM for in AZ back in 2007 Elizabeth Jane Kelly and last but not least our Video Person chronicling our journey is Brad Kelly. I am reassured constantly that I am with all the right people doing all the right things and that makes me feel really good.

OVERALL PLACE	TOTAL TIME	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	RACE DIVISION	DIVISION PLACE	HAWAII QUALIFIERS
1979	15:56:06	BLAKE	KEVIN	M25-29	93/99
195	10:15:43	BRADBURY	KEVIN	M40-44	34/399
1613	14:04:33	BROWN	KEVIN	M45-49	88/247
280	10:35:29	BUCHHOLZ	KEVIN	M30-34	42/211
100	09:49:37	CLAYTON	KEVIN	M35-39	16/369
78	09:42:28	COADY	KEVIN	M30-34	9/211
852	12:01:27	CUSTIS	KEVIN	M40-44	84/399
636	11:31:21	DOLAN	KEVIN	M45-49	74/247
1328	13:14:42	DOUGHERTY	KEVIN	M35-39	40/369
616	11:28:38	EDWARDS	KEVIN	M50-54	25/135
1589	13:59:22	HALL	KEVIN	M35-39	90/369
1417	13:28:19	HANNON	KEVIN	M35-39	61/369
1535	13:50:45	HANRAHAN	KEVIN	M30-34	66/211
1771	14:47:07	HAUGH	KEVIN	M35-39	20/369
1381	13:24:16	KELLY	KEVIN	M45-49	63/247
1262	13:03:10	KNAUFF	KEVIN	M40-44	73/399
1754	14:42:42	KORESKY	KEVIN	M35-39	16/369
1638	14:13:19	MCCABE	KEVIN	M45-49	95/247
98	09:49:09	NEAL	KEVIN	M45-49	4/247
1809	14:57:56	PRINISKI	KEVIN	M30-34	85/211
1128	12:42:00	REINSCH	KEVIN	M40-44	43/399
2167	DNF	ROBSON	KEVIN	M40-44	96/399
431	10:59:52	ROSENTHAL	KEVIN	M40-44	90/399
332	10:46:41	SULLIVAN	KEVIN	M45-49	36/247
969	12:22:09	SYPOLT	KEVIN	M40-44	03/399