2000 Explorer starting problem

2000 Explorer V8 5.0L
I went to start up my truck tonight and had a hard time starting it. Most of the time this is a solid running truck and I havent had any problems starting it. Except two or three times over the last 2-3 weeks it didnt start on the first try. Nothing fancy just turned it over and it didnt go so had to do it again, but on the second time fired right up.

Now tonight, I went to start it and it died, sounded week. Tried two or three times and it wouldnt start. It would try to start and sounded rough like real bad idle and would die. Tried again this time giving it some gas and it would stay started but would idle rough and like it wasnt miss firing or something. Well I sat there for a bit giving it gas and reveing it up, but it wouldnt idle right. It countined to do this but got a little stronger so I tried to back up and see what it did. Seemed like it was still having problems idling and like it was miss firing, the power stearing seemed week on it and I noticed the head lights flickering. It eventually pepped up and I was able to take it around the block. I was wondering if this could be a symptom of the alternator going out. Or I seen else where in the threads about and air control valve. I wondering if one of these could be to blame or if anyone has any ideas of what to check.

Thanks,
Chris

iac valve