Weekend with old friends to support
Kristin’s Ironman event!
I arrived in
the late afternoon on Thursday and met with Kristin. I had been looking forward to this weekend
for quite a while now, and I was glad it was finally here. It was great to see her again! It’s been 8 1/2 months since I seen her or
any of my friends back in Greenville. We
took car of some last minute preparations on her bike, and then picked up a few
things at the grocery store before she had to go to her athletes orientation
meeting. I headed back to her room and
soon afterward, Grant Dave and Grant’s mother Heather arrived. We all caught up, had a few beers some
laughs.
The next
morning I went for a nice long 12 mile run.
I had marathon in Georgia coming up the following weekend and had to be
ready. It was a awesome place and time
to run since so many athletes were out doing last minute, runs rides and
swims. Later that morning after
breakfast, Grant headed to the local Radio shack to pickup a mega phone, while
I went to pickup a few things for Kristin, and the materials to make a big
poster board for her! For the weekend we
were all staying in a condo of our own so we checked in there. We had a 12th floor 2 bedroom, 2
bath condo with oceanfront view and balcony.
That evening
we met with Shari, Maureen and Shawn that had driven down that day, and we all
went out for dinner for Heather’s birthday.
We all headed to bed fairly early that night as we had an early wake up
for the 7AM start of the race. Just a
side note a full Ironman distance event is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of
cycling and 26.2 miles (full marathon) of running. Winners typically do it in 8 hrs, the cutoff
is 17 hrs. The average athlete(as if
there was anything average about these people) finish in around 12 hrs.
Saturday
morning we got down to the beach in time to watch all 2500 athletes go running
into the water and splashing about. It
was quite the site to see! The swim
course was 2 laps, so between the first and the 2nd lap the athletes
actually ran up onto the beach and then back in the water. Unfortunately we did not manage to see
Kristin at this point. Later though I saw
her as she entered transition zone #1.
Then we all saw her again as she headed out on her bike. We
then drove (all 7 of us in 1 car) to mile 40 on the bike course, but
unfortunately she had been too fast and we missed her. This whole time Grant, Dave and I had been
taking turns on the megaphone cheering on the athletes, playing music for them,
and generally being goofballs, but I think most of the competitors appreciated
the encouragement. After a short break
at the condo in the afternoon, we headed down to the bike finish, and caught
her as she finished the bike and started her run. Grant, Dave and I then headed to
approximately mile 2, 11, 15 and 24 on the run course. It was all in one location because the
athletes do 2 laps of the 13 mile course to finish the marathon distance. The athletes loved it, we cheered played
music and saw Kristin 3 times, she was super happy every time she saw us, and I
think most people were. We had a great
time. We made it down the finish, which
by this time was after dark to see her come in with a strong finish in
12:22! She was super happy, and we were
all really happy for her.
That night
after some rest we all headed to Mellow Mushroom to celebrate. Again, the mega phone was still with grant
and he continued to use it even in the restaurant. Grant, Nancy (one of Kristin’s friends) and I
headed out to celebrate at some local establishments. The others tired from a long day headed to
bed.
Sunday we all
met for breakfast and then parted ways.
I headed for Pensacola, the others drove back to Greenville. I will be there in just 2 weeks. What an awesome weekend, it was so good to
spend time with old friends again. It’s
probably the aspect of life that I miss the most. I’m a very social person, and being alone so
much is very challenging at times.
Nothing can replace good times, with good friends.
I must admit,
I am inspired by watching this event. I
have always wanted to compete in an Ironman event. However I have only done a half dozen sprint
triathlons to date. I have decided to
participate in the Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)
June 4th in Boise, ID. The
plan will be to complete a full Ironman in 2013. 
Will you come watch when I run my first full marathon? :) It will be in Oregon. I hope to start training in about a year...
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