Watching the swim was a terrifying experience. They look like salmon heading upstream. I watched the pack to try to figure out where was the safest place to be. I watch as people walked out as far as they could before committing to the water. It was super fun ogling over the bikes and seeing what systems people had for gels and what sort of good luck charms they had. I didn't envy the swim but I did get very excited to see the bike. Watching people head up to Yellow Lake was pretty grueling. It looks like a brutal hill but now that I have a new found appreciation for hill training I wished that my bike wasn't trapped on the back of The Smart. I borrowed someone race book to find out my friend Chris's number. No sooner did I find it then he cruised past, looking very fresh and still with a smile on his face despite the torturous hill and head winds.
We headed back to OK Falls to see the front pack at the half marathon point. Watching Heather Fuhr, Sarah Gross and Lisa Bentley battle it out on the marathon was one of the coolest moments in sports I've ever seen (I know that's not really saying much given my sport watching experience consists of two hockey games and a game of rec league soccer) I also decided that I would really like a pair of the new retro Nike's and will never wear a one piece trisuit. I have yet to come to a decision on the compression socks. On one hand you look silly, on the other I really love my arm warmers so I would probably love knee high socks.
We headed into town to watch the pros finish. Hearing the announcer radio voice announce "_____ you are an Ironman" was chilling and there was still hours to go and thousands left to cheer in.
It was coming close to 5:30 the bike cut off and we headed out to cheer one the people still on the course. The smart car with its baby horn and the bike on the back put a few smiles on some athletes faces and made for easy parking in town. It was soul crushing to watch those who knew they weren't going to make cut off. I can't even imagine all the training and then having to finish at 5:30. They have to have the cut off and it needs to be strict to be fair but it was a dark hour so we decided it was too sad and headed over to cheer on the people coming out of transition. This older gentleman come out wearing hiking shorts and a button down shirt. He knew he had lots of time and had planned on walking the entire marathon.
We called it at day around the 14 hour mark, we'd been up since 6 am (and I know I have no right saying this but I was feeling sleepy) I tossed and turned all night as images of Ironman danced in my head.
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