oh where should i begin...

almost exactly a year ago i was glued to my monitor watching ironman arizona 2007 live webcast as athletes were still crossing the finish line at almost midnight. i remember thinking that there is no way i could do something like that, being out there for 13, 14 or even 17 hours trying to finish an ironman...that's a loooong time to be out there. but the thought of doing an ironman never left my mind since then.

fast forward to april 13, 2008.

i was in my wetsuit waiting to get in the water with the other 2026 athletes. it's going to be a mass start and everyone will be in the water and start at the same time. i can feel every heart beat in my chest, i looked around and i think everyone felt the same way. greg and sang were with me, i gave them one last hug, wished them good luck and we parted. it's going to be a while before i see them again. i took one deep breath and took a leap into the cold water.

the cannon went off. o my god, it started, i'm doing an ironman! o my god, o my god!

we swam into the sun and everywhere i saw there were just water splashing against the bright sun, and swimmers all around me. where are the buoys?
someone grabbed my ankle, another one smacked me on the back, on my head and my goggle came off three times, and i must had kicked some people too... sorry.

1hour 27minutes. 2.4miles down 138.2miles to go. yeah! i got the whole day to play.

the 112miles bike course is a 3 loop course.
going out on my first loop... for the first few miles all i heard was the wind blowing and felt dust pricking my skin. there was this one stretch where we got head/side winds, riding 11mph and everyone just was struggling to stay straight. Then there's beeline highway stretch, a 10miles out with about 300ft of climbing before we turn around to go back and do two more of the same loop. the climb was not a problem, but with head winds and heat i could only manage to ride 10-12mph without blowing my self out. my stomach hurt. no big deal i told myself, just take it easy, it'll still going to be a long day.
i made it to the turn around. stopped at the aid station, refueled and ride again. going back was a lot more fun. with the slight down hill and winds on my back i rode down that stretch in half the time it took me to go up.

second loop. the heat got me. my stomach hurt more and i couldn't eat. i forced my self to eat another bite of my energy bar, and struggled to keep it down. the wind still blowing. michellie jones, the women pro athlete predicted to win the race, passed me on the hill like i was standing still. she was on her third loop. i was really tempted to speed up just to see how long i can keep up with her, but i know i still have a marathon to run after this and so i watched her getting farther and farther.

third loop. only one bottle of perpetuem left (i lost 2 bottles when riding on a rough road), and can't even think about eating more solid food without hurting my stomach. i got worried since i had only been able to manage to eat 2 bars as solid food during this whole ride. wind still blowing and temp rose higher. at one time i didn't even know if i wanted to laugh, cry or throw up. going back down after the turn around was still a lot more fun. i was passing people at 30+mph with the wind on my back. sweet!

after 7hours and 2 minutes i had enough of being on the bike. 114.4miles down. 26.2miles to go. yippie!

i think i must had looked pretty crappy after the bike. i was asked three times if i needed to go to medical tent on my way to the changing tent. hmmm med tent... nice, cool shaded tent with some ice cold water and possible iv shot sounded pretty damn good at that moment, but i turned them down.

the 26.2miles run was also 3 loops run. first 13miles of the run was pretty tough for me. my stomach was really bothering me and i had to stop at porter potty every chance i got. at the aid station on mile 6 a volunteer was offering some drinks in styrofoams cups, i took one thinking it was some kind of tea, only to find out that it was chicken broth. it was the best chicken broth i've ever had in my whole life! and it seemed to give me some energy to get me going and so i kept drinking it and taking wet sponges to keep myself cool whenever they offered it at the aid stations. a lot of people were walking. a lot of people were just simply laying, passed out on the ground. my legs were really tired, but i got huge blisters on my toes which hurt really bad when i walked, so i kept running, slowly.

the sun went down and i still have about 5 more miles to go. they gave us glow sticks and i wore it on my arm. 5 more miles to go, just 5 more short miles!! i can't stop smiling for the rest of the run, it was the sweetest 5 miles in my life. i can run 5 miles in my sleep and i can't wait to cross the line.

then there's the left turn that we made to the finish line. and i heard the crowds cheered and my friends screamed my name. the last 500m was really unbelievable. i crossed the line, grab the finisher's ribbon and mike riley, the voice of ironman, announced it: sinta tan, you are an ironman!!!

140.6miles all covered. 13 hours 54 minutes and 05 seconds. each stroke, each pedal, each step all bring me closer to cover the distance. a long amazing day. this high will last my life time...