RACE REPORT: IM USA 2005 Race Report
written by: Rip Reeves & Maddy Shaw-Moran
posted: 08/31/2005

Maddy and I feel we should write down some of our LP memories. So.....

  • 1. We didn't keep training logs-because we didn't want to become a slave to the numbers.
  • 2. We never took a weekend before LP to become familiar with the course and did the course sight unseen (and got to see it twice!).
  • 3. Maddy's a Jewish Girl from Newton. Women like her don't do Ironmans. No self-respecting JAP would be caught dead doing an IM. That's why she took 10 minutes in the transition tents after the swim and again after the bike. Other (non-Jewish) women were in there for 1/2 the amount of time that she was. Please understand, she had to re-do her hair, brush her teeth and floss, reapply lipstick, choose which outfit to wear...etc......and she still looked like crap in the after pictures!!!
  • 4. Rip did the race without sun block, no watch, no bike computers and SUFFERED through having to wear a shirt on the bike and run (I still have the chaffing scars). Although we both put Body Glide in places people don't want to know about (maybe that explains why I keep catching Suzie sniffing my Body Glide in the closet!).
  • 5. We were never worried about the ill effects about overtraining---if anything, we were worried about the ill effects of undertraining.
  • 6. We gathered all our information about the race by just listening to people who sounded like they knew a lot more than we did--but isn't that pretty much everyone?
  • 7. Maddy never ran a marathon before---heck, the longest distance she ran before this race was for 2 hours so maybe we're talking 13 miles. She had other things to do with her day in the spring and summer....like bitch at her husband and yell at her kids (and vacuum naturally)!!! We didn't feel like spending the whole day exercising....we figure we'd have an opportunity to do that on race day!
  • 8. Rip actually counted noon-time spin classes as real riding time....not to brag, but I got up to three spin classes a week!
  • 9. The night before the race, we slept in a small hotel room that had 2 double beds with 4-5 other people (including whining kids). Not the most conducive to getting a good night's sleep.
  • 8. Maddy never went to a masters swim workout, never went to a track workout, never did an organized bike ride with fellow team members--perhaps this is why she sucked (Maddy wrote that one herself).
  • 10. Rip's brick workout meant going to Ye Olde Cottage for breakfast after a monsterous 30-40 mile bike ride.
  • 11. As Maddy was completing the first loop of the bike ride, she heard one of her kids scream out "What's for dinner Mom?" As Rip was completing the first loop, he heard one of his kids scream out "Tell Emelie to stop hitting me"!
  • 12. I remember talking with one of the race officials on the motorcycle during the bike portion of the race, asking him the name of the river we were all looking at. The official and I talked for a few minutes about how gorgeous the bike course was...he said he had never had a racer want to talk about how pretty the scenery was during the race! Wanted to make sure I got my money's worth.....thus the 11 hours and 40 minute time (which is faster than Joe's, Sean's, Javahari's and Sassy's (Maggie) times, FYI!!!!!!!! no comments Petey).
  • 13. During the run, Maddy stopped and gave me a pretty gross hug and kiss and we talked for awhile to chants from the crowd "Get a room"! Boy, she only wishes!!
  • 14. I'll never forget the look of horror on my three girls' faces (ages 10, 11 and 12) as we were congratulating Sassy (President Maggie) upon finishing the race (I beat her in case you were wondering) and she began explaining the gory details of her period having started the night before. Priceless...they still talk about it!!!
  • 15. Our overwhelming memory of LP is how much fun the whole experience was...it's not about your race time, because let's face it...we're not going to win it! Now we get to eat anything we want in order to gain back the 20 pounds we lost in training (oops, that's right, Maddy didn't loose a single pound...hehehe!)!!

    • We had a BLAST, except for the race itself!!!