IRONMAN: Part 3~Race Day!

Rich, Julie, Eva and I left early in the morning. Everybody else was going to follow later. Rich seemed pretty calm as he usually is before a big race. If he is ever nervous he doesn’t show it.

Once there, Julie and I got separated when she went to go look for Rich to get a picture before the race started. She ended up being in an awesome spot to see all of the action. I was far off to the side. These are the pictures she took.

Right before the race.

This is her shot of where I was.

Picture from my perspective. Look at all of those swimmers in their green swim caps!

And he’s off!!!

What they had to do is swim out and around a buoy, get out and run back to the start and do another lap. Rich’s 1st lap was rough. Julie called me when she saw him get out and said he looked horrible and that she was worried about him. She said he was coughing and stumbling but he got back in for the second lap. I was a nervous wreck after hearing that. Rich later told us that when he started swimming he felt like it was a combination of the adrenaline, the cold water and the pressure of the wet suit on his chest that caused him to start hyperventilating. He just couldn’t catch his breath so he could swim on his stomach because he was sucking in too much water so he flipped on his back. Swimming on his back made him nauseous and when he flipped back over he was so nauseous that he started throwing up.

Somehow he survived the first lap and he said that after throwing up more at the beginning of the second lap, he felt better and was able to finish.

Can I just say, it was FREEZING that morning! It was windy and so bitter cold the kids were dying!

Waiting for daddy.

In this next video you can my hand going crazy trying to get his attention. There were so many people and they were all yelling so it really was hard to make sure they didn’t just pass right by you. Mom made sure I got a kiss

He ran straight to an area where they had strippers. No, not THAT kind of stripper! There were actually people that would help them strip off their wetsuit so that they could run to a tent and change for the bike portion of the Ironman. This is him running to the tent after taking off his wetsuit.

Next was a 112 mile bike ride.

This portion of the Ironman took him 8 hours and we knew it was going to take a long time and that we wouldn’t have any good opportunities to see him so we all headed back to the cabin except for Julie.

Rich said that the bike ride was probably the hardest because of the position he had to stay in for 8 hours. He said his shoulders and neck were on fire the whole time. Poor guy! The important thing is he is an animal and finished the bike portion which included lots of steep, long hills. He’s amazing!

Last was the part of the Ironman he had been looking forward to the most…the run!

 

We all got back shortly after he started the run and found Julie and a nice little spot to wait for him to run by.

This one cracks me up!

Why is it so hard to get a good picture of all 3 of them?

Arabella was so cute with her bell. She would ring it every single time a runner passed.

It got much warmer so the kids were able to sport their new Ironman gear.

These are pictures Rich’s mom took. Here he stopped to say hi to me, Julie and the kids.

He ran passed 2 times and we cheered him on and then we all went to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

 

After dinner we headed over to the finish line to wait for Rich to become an Ironman!

Proud parents!

He did it!!!

Congratulating daddy

Rich completed a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and polished it all off with a 26.2 mile run. He earned the title of Ironman and I have to admit, it’s pretty awesome being the wife of an Ironman, haha!

It was all such a fun experience and the atmosphere was awesome! Rich and I have talked about going back again next year but this time he will just be a spectator. Having family there made the experience that much more special.

We all went to breakfast the next morning and then said our goodbye’s.

Thank you to all of those that cheered Rich on from afar and especially thank you to Mom, Dad, Julie, and Uncle John for coming out to support him! He is so happy to check this one off of his bucket list and doesn’t plan on doing another Ironman any time soon…thank goodness!