Kona 2014

By Kortney Haag USAT Level I Coach

As I am sitting here contemplating foam rolling the thought of it terrifies me…I am not too sore in the legs but my body is sore from the beat up on took on my fall on the bike Saturday. Getting to Kona was a dream I have had since the first time I decided to do an Ironman. My first Ironman in 2012 at Wisconsin didn’t go as planned as I had GI issues through the whole run. I figured out what I needed to change in 2013 and placed first in my age group and second overall amateur that year. It is funny how things work out for a reason because in 2002 Derek and I came to Kona, HI for our honeymoon. Little did we know that the Ironman race was going on the next day. I still remember walking through the King Kamehameha hotel wondering what all these fit looking people were doing. We got up the next morning and watched the whole race unfold and were in awe of these amazing athletes. We didn’t get into the sport of triathlon for a long time after but I knew I wanted to come back and do this race someday. What is even more special is that this is our golden anniversary, for 12 years I have been married to my best friend.

I arrived on the island earlier then Derek and the boys so I could have a couple of days of training and adjustment. I stayed with Hilary Patzer and her mom – what amazing, special, selfless people both of them are. I can’t say thank you enough to the two of them for taking me in for a couple of days. When the boys arrived on Tuesday the nerves were starting to come. Everyone checks you out when you are biking, running or swimming and with the sport of triathlon there are so many body types that it doesn’t matter if you have the best looking abs!

My training week was pretty easy and low key but there were some important sessions I needed to get in. I went for a training ride out on the Queen K and could tell something was off with my bike – when I got back to Hilary’s place I saw that my tire was low and noticed a gash in it. Derek came right from the airport, picked me up and took the wheel to the local bike store, but it wouldn’t be ready until Thursday. I had a ride to do out towards Hawi on Wednesday so I could see how the winds were blowing and Hilary let me borrow her wheel for the ride. The whole time I was nervous something was going to happen to it, luckily nothing did and I was able to give it back to her in one piece! Thursday after the underwear run, Derek wanted to test the bike out with the new tire on it and my front brake cable snapped off! So back to the bike shop it was – luckily it was an easy fix but still I was getting a little frustrated wondering what the heck is happening to my bike! Friday we had to turn in our bikes, T1 and T2 bag. Derek took the boys to the beach for most of the day. Bike check in closed at 5:30 so we headed down there around 4:30. Normally you can put things in your T1 and T2 bags in the morning and that is what I was used to. I eat Smuckers Uncrustables on the bikes and they stay frozen so I wanted to keep them frozen as long as possible. I asked my volunteer just in case if we could put things in T1 and T2 and she told me no…I thought I was going to freak out. I rushed out of transition and we sped up the hill where we were renting a house, grabbed my nutrition and had five minutes to spare. Needles to say I was a little stressed out at this moment and thought to myself what else is going to happen to me?

I usually can sleep well the night before a race and I probably fell asleep at around 8:30 with a wake up call at 4:30 so about 8 hours of sleep. It was pretty awesome to be around all of the buzz there and I still couldn’t believe I was going to be doing this. I found Hilary in the craziness and we gave each other a big hug and said go do your thing, you are here and that is all that matters. The swim was quite choppy – I had swam in the ocean everyday I was here and it never felt like that to me. Women were clawing and grabbing. It was worse then Age Group Nationals and I didn’t think anything could be worse than that! I was so happy to be out of that water and get on my bike. It was fun to see Kris and Jill waiting for me at my bike reminding me to eat and drink. I cruised out on the bike hoping to bike about a 5:30, little did I know the conditions out there were less than ideal. The first 15 miles were fine and I made some friends out on the road, but then we hit the headwinds and crosswinds. That is when I knew it was going to be a tough day. There were times I was only going 14 mph but felt like I should be going 21-22 with the effort I was putting out. I don’t ride with a power meter and hoping to get one this year so it would be nice to see my power and maintain a steady ride throughout the race. I couldn’t wait to get to that turnaround in Hawi because I thought, “oh yes we will have a tailwind”, I could not have been more WRONG! The winds turned and now we had a headwind on the way back. There were times when I was going a good 32 mph but then the crosswind would come so it made it hard to eat and drink consistently on the bike. As we made our way out of Hawi at about mile 75 I went down pretty hard. I remember my elbows coming out of the aero bars and landing on my left hand side. I quickly tried to get up but my foot was stuck in my pedals that I had to pull myself up with my feet still clipped in. I surveyed myself, I have broken bones before on the bike so I knew I didn’t break anything, but I had some serious road rash on my shoulder blades and I landed pretty hard on my hip and head. My bike helmet was messed up, but it was rideable. I gave myself a little pep talk and got on my way again. After the crash I was a little more timid in the wind and could tell something was going on with my hip. I couldn’t wait to get off that bike, but didn’t know what the marathon would bring.

I tried to be as quick as I could in transition but wanted to take off my jersey and change into my sports bra, boy did that hurt! I quickly got some ointment for the road rash on my back and didn’t even look at the hip because I didn’t want to know what it looked like and have it mess with my head. I knew if I just put one foot in front of the other I would get there. It was great seeing people from Minnesota cheering me on. I laughed a lot out there especially when I saw Harvey and Wade in their outfits. Kris asked me how I was doing and my reply was good, I am ok. I kept telling myself that and wanted to enjoy this race and not hate it! I saw my mom, and sister and ran to the other side of the road and gave my niece a high five. I high fived people all day, I wanted to make sure I had a smile on my face and enjoyed this moment because I wasn’t sure when I would be back here. Heading out to the Queen K I knew it would be lonely, but on my way back from the energy lab I had a message on the Newton board from my mother and father-in-law and I knew I only had 8 more miles to go. I made sure I would to run to the aid stations and walk through them. I probably shouldn’t have had walked as much as I did but I was hydrating a lot. The last mile was maybe the hardest of the run because you run downhill, take a left and still have about a mile left to go to the finish line. I kept saying to myself your almost there. I heard Derek in the crowd and wanted to cry but kept going. I saw my sister and her family, heard my mom scream for me, saw my in-laws yelling for me, gave my kids a high five and knew that my coach Kris would be waiting to catch me as I crossed the finish line. It was unbelievably awesome to hear my name and know I competed with the best of the best and that is all that matters. Thank you to all who cheered for me in Hawaii, Minnesota and all over the US – you all got me to the finish line!