Ironman Tribute

Jerry and Bob were on the same flight from Texas, Jerry coming from CA and Bob from CO. Beau drove down from Indy and Owen and I trekked from IA. Safely transporting all of Jerry's gear I might add. We checked in and headed to the waterfront park and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.

This is the transition area, void of bikes & gear.

Owen's game face.Friday was pretty laid back. Jerry and Bob registered and swam and later biked. Beau went to the Corvette Museum. Owen and I swam at the hotel. The welcome dinner was Friday night. The program was really cool. They talk about the oldest and youngest participants and have them come up on stage. The youngest male was turning 18 the next day. His parents were doing the race with him. One of the oldest men was 72 and was competing in his 66th Ironman. That's a whole lot of crazy. We swim with the current Ironman World Champion for the 70-75 year old men. They also have people who have lost the most weight during training come up. The winner was a guy who lost 201 pounds. It's the average every day people that train and do this that amaze me.

Saturday morning the three guys (Bob, Beau and Jerry) ran. We checked out the expo and made some cool signs.

Owen's sign he made all by himself.

We walked around the Ironworks district (or some such thing) and then had lunch. Afterwards we met up with my parents and visited the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. That was really cool. I had no idea we'd actually go on the floor of the factory and see bats being made and branded for Derek Jeter. There were freebie little bats at the end, too.

While Jerry, Bob and Beau drove the bike course, Monka, Nana, Owen and I went to wait for a table at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The wait was long enough that we went on a carriage ride around Louisville.

The balloon lady/clown made an awesome Ironman for Owen. Then it was off to bed. And that's when I pointed out to Jerry that he forgot to put his tri-shorts in his transition bag, oops. He ended up having to wear them for the swim, but it wasn't a huge deal.

Race morning was perfect. The forecast was for a high of 73. The previous year high was in the 90s with high humidity.

Owen and I walked from the finish of the swim to the start area. I knew it was going to be packed at the start, so we stayed away. We watched the pros swim by and then headed back to the finish. We staked out a spot, so we could see Jerry and Bob head out of transition on the bike. Beau stayed by the swim finish to see them both.

The couple with the silver wigs gave Owen his first cow bell of the day! Thanks, spikey, rocker, foil head dudes.

Jerry leaving transition for his 112 mile bike ride. He'd be back in less than 5 1/2 hours.

The the festival in La Grange, Owen got some face paint, some candy, some bounce house, some beads, and some MORE cowbell.

I have a crappy camera and I was juggling signs and cowbells and a 3 year old boy and a stroller. It gets pretty darn exciting when your athlete(s) go by, the ones you've been waiting hours to see and you get a split second to scream, yell, cheer. Good photos from me therefore are few and far between, but this one of Bob is pretty good.

Every time we saw the guys, Jerry was in the lead. It made for a really fun race day for both of them to chase each other. There was some passing back and forth on the bike and run. Bob is just over Jerry's right shoulder in this shot from the beginning of the marathon.

Jerry 10:42:23

Bob 10:52:33

An awesome race for 2 amazing Ironmen.

So in a haze of post-Ironman euphoria, I decided it would be “fun” for Jerry and I to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary by running in a marathon together. Well, together, but not so much. We're into week #2 of training. I'm a little nervous of what happens around week # 11-18 when winter comes to stay in Iowa. We registered for the Phoenix Rock n' Roll Marathon which is on January 17th. I'll be thankful to survive; Jerry is hoping to qualify for Boston. Good luck with that honey, I'll see you at the finish line.