After
My catcher tried to take me to the massage and pizza tent, but we passed by the photo tent on the way, and I asked if I could get my photo taken. He said sure, then asked if I was feeling okay, and I said I felt great, and I obviously looked okay, because he abandoned me at the photo tent and went off to catch someone else. Which was fine, but I don't think they're supposed to do that. A guy held my stuff while I got my picture taken, then I held his while he got his picture taken. No sign of Matt, which saddened me a little, because that meant no group photo like we'd gotten last year.
I could hear Sarah and Jamie cheering for me, and I finally found them on the other side of the fence. They said Matt had gone to drop stuff off in the car, because he had no idea I was that close to finishing. Oops! They took a few pictures, and text messaged Matt that I was done. I was a little sad that everyone had missed my dramatic sprint finish, but maybe it's better that way, in case I just FELT like I was sprinting, but wasn't in reality.
I got a piece of pizza and then Matt went to put my bike in the car while I got on the list for a massage. The massage tent was wonderfully warm and dry, and I changed into my finisher's shirt (a small! they had a small!) and hoody, but couldn't change my pants, since I'd ditched my sweatpants that morning, a million years ago. The massage felt fantastic, and Matt rejoined me during the massage, and we chatted with the masseuse. When we left the massage tent, we were FREEZING. A combination of things being released by the massage, the cold of the outside compared to the warmth of the tent, and finally cooling down and being soaking wet after the run.
We went to ditch more stuff in the car, which we'd unfortunately parked in a spot where we couldn't retrieve it until after midnight due to it being part of the race course, then went to meet Sarah and Jamie for food and beer. On the way, we ran into the Lewises and chatted some with them, which was perfect timing since that put us in position to cheer for Lori and Patricia as they headed in for their last mile.
After a burger and a beer (well, most of a beer; I'm a lightweight even when I didn't just do an Ironman, especially these past few months), we went back out to cheer in the last few finishers right at midnight. Some looked amazing, some looked just done, but they all crossed the finish line, and it was amazing to see.
Then we extricated our car, drove down those awful 5 hills back to our hotel room, showered, and finally went to bed. We realized at the end of the day that we applied sunscreen at the very beginning of the day and never again, and didn't get a bit of sunburn. Thanks, rain!