I wanted to share my day at the ironman.
Just some stats to start out. Approx 2800 people were registered. 1000 first time iron man athletes. The youngest was 18, oldest 74.
So, Mom and I woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast. We took a shuttle to the main part of the race and figured out the best place to watch the bikers. Unfortunately they did not give us good directions so when we got back I tried to input an intersection that I thought was close to a bunch of hills.
Well, turns out I did REAL good. Mom and I hung out there for about 5 hours. We were at the top of a big hill near a turn so we got to see the bikers for at least 15 seconds. (lol) We had no idea what mile we were at (turns out it was ~ mile 50) so we just watched and waited for my bro and dad to show up. We also had no idea what they were wearing, so it was quite difficult. My brother almost rode right past us without noticing us even though we were yelling and screaming. It also looked like he almost fell off his bike trying to ask us if Dad was behind or ahead of him. (I'm sure he will say he didn't almost fell, but it looked that way. And Dad was behind) For several hours before we saw my brother, we cheered on hundreds of other bikers. We also saw the lead biker and his "entourage" as they rode by.
Somehow, we almost missed Dad (about 30 minutes behind my bro). He was actually the one who noticed us instead of the other way around. We found out later, (the next day) that Dad actually had a flat tire at the beginning of the race. Turns out one of his spares (he has 2) also had a hole in it so after Dad changed his flat he rode almost the entire 112 miles with no spare tire. Quite a scary thing in the middle of the race. We had planned to stay at that location for a while since the bikers rode past us twice. However late in the day we decided to wait for the boys at the bike finish line.
I guess Madison is "infamous" for this, but I just think this is CRUEL. The runners have to run up the parking lot helix after the swim to change into biking gear. Then they have to bike down it (not that big of a deal, but kinda scary.) HOWEVER, after 112 miles of biking, the course designer thought it would be a nice touch to make the bikers bike up this. As if the hundreds of excruciating hills aren't enough, they have to add a terrible helix at the end of it. You would not believe how many bikers complained that they were getting dizy. I was not surprised. Lets add dehydration, extreme fatigue, circles and a ramp and see how many bikers will complete it. My brother completed this with what looked like no problem. (Later we found out he was vomiting almost the entire bike ride.... fun times) He then went to change into his running gear. At this point Dad was about 1 hour behind my bro, so we decided to meet my brother at the start of the marathon race. We took a few pictures and cheered them on before returning to the helix to wait for Dad.It got to be 5:15 and all of a sudden all of these ironman volunteers came out to the helix. Turns out if you don't cross the finish line by 5:30 they don't allow you to run the marathon. Dad still had not finished the bike part so Mom and I were stressing. Every single biker that got close to the helix was cheered on and we were hoping it was Dad. FINALLY with 3 minutes to spare he rode up. He reached the bottom of the helix, got off his bike and stopped. I ran down the helix and started cheering him on along with all the other volunteers. After much encouragement Dad finally started running with his bike up the helix. He ended up finishing the bike with 2 minutes to spare, but immediately collapsed after crossing the finish line and told us he wasn't going to do the marathon, that he quit. It took us about 30 minutes to persuade him to keep going. It was 6:00 when Dad started the marathon. Normally 6 hours to do a marathon wouldn't be too bad, but after 114 miles... its hard to walk let alone RUN a marathon. I calculated that Dad had to run an approximate 13.5 minute mile. What I deamed almost impossible for Dad in his fatigued shape.
Mom and I grabbed the boys bikes and personal items and brought them back to the hotel. We then walked to the marathon at the 4, 10, 17 and 21 mile point. The marathon course is extremely boring... you have to make 4 loops on the same roads... But that's ok, we got to see the boys several times. The first time I saw Dad on the marathon track, I had realized he was keeping ~ 13.25 minute mile. I power-walked with Dad up the hill and told him I was going to stay until he crossed the finish line (instead of leaving at 10 PM like I originally wanted to.). By the time we saw Dad, my brother had already reached the halfway point on the marathon, so we made our way to the finish line. By the time we got there, Michael hadn't reached the last checkpoint (4 miles to the finish) before the end. So Mom and I started walking down the path trying to see the boys. About 9:30, Mom and I decided that I was going to walk down the path to try to find my brother and Dad. So I started walking, hoping to cheer them on to the finish line. Less than a mile from the finish I saw my brother. I power-walked with him for a while, and tried to convince him to keep up the pace for the last mile. Later I found out that he ran the last mile because of my encouragement finishing 69th in his age group.
After I passed my bro, I saw this guy during the marathon. He was wearing the full fireman outfit. I didn't take a picture, but I can vouch for him. Such dedication. I ended up walking ~ 4 miles through the marathon looking for Dad. At 10:45 I turned around so I could meet back with Mom and 11:30. I had no sign from Dad, couldn't find him. I thought for sure that he was not going to finish. At 11:45 (the race ENDS at midnight) there was still no sign of Dad so Mom asked me to go get the car for the boys who will be too tired to walk. I guess 5 minutes after I left, Mom found Dad with about 0.5 miles to go. She cheered him on, as well as the crowd. The crowd started shouting for him to go, and soon the finish line was in site. The crowd started counting down. Dad had seconds to cross the finish line, or get a DNF (Did Not Finish)... 10... 9... 8... 7...
Dad was officially the last person to finish the Ironman with seconds to spare. (I guess the clock was 35 seconds fast so he really finished with 40 seconds to spare opposed to 5 seconds he was told. His time was later adjusted.) Dad ended up finishing 63rd in his age group.
2800 started the race. Only 2242 finished.
The race was extremely stressful for us. The entire time Mom and I were worried they were stuck somewhere or couldn't finish. Its not like the athletes run or bike with cell phones to call if there are problems. We saw injuries, men and women who could barely walk, terrible sunburn... basically a ton of bad stuff.
My brother suffered from (thankfully) mild dehydration, and Dad came out of the race with only extremely fatigue.
Congrats guys... You are Ironmen.
1 comment:
And Great Job to You too, Stephanie. Those Athletes, all of them, including your Dad and Brother don't do it alone and having the support of others, like you and me give them the mental boost to continue on to the finish!
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