I met up with Terri on Friday night, and we headed to the Great Dane for dinner and to meet up with two of my college friends: Renae and Tom Scroggins. This would be Tom's first Ironman, and I know Renae was hoping to have a little help navigating Madison and the surrounding areas to cheer on her husband. We ended the evening with a trip to the Chocolate Factory for some ice cream - turtle sundae, I believe.
Saturday morning Terri and I drove up to Devil's Lake State Park for a triathlon clinic held by her friend, Cindi. We worked on transitions for quite some time (mine still need a little work), then headed out to ride the course (the Devil's Lake Triathlon was being held the following weekend). It was a PERFECT day for a ride, and the course was great, though hilly. After a quick transition run, we headed back to Madison.
Terri went out to the course to write some words of encouragement in sidewalk chalk, and I went in search of Roehr. Her friends from work just bought a condo about 2 blocks from the finish line, and I was lucky enough to be invited to stay there for the rest of the weekend. After a quick stop by the expo to look at grossly over-priced race merchandise, we went out for some great Italian food downtown. Then, of course, we went to the Chocolate Factory for more ice cream - caramel overload, I think was the name.
It was easy to fall asleep after all that food, and we knew it would be an early morning. We were up around 5-ish and walked a couple blocks to the swim. The weather was GORGEOUS! Perfect for race day. We reminisced about the horrible weather last year. Mostly we were very excited for this year's athletes, but deep down we were pretty jealous...
Roehr and I couldn't find a good place to watch the race outside, so we went inside Monona Terrace and watched out the windows. Not long into the swim, we needed to report to T1 - our volunteer post for the day. Basically, it involves helping the athletes get out of their swim clothes and into their bike clothes, then dealing with all the gear after they leave. I enjoyed being there as the pro women came through. They have next to nothing in their transition bags compared to the age groupers who brought everything but the kitchen sink. It was crazy for about 90 minutes, then it was all over.
On our way to meet Renae and go cheer on the cyclists, I ran into another friend, Tom Hamilton. He was supposed to be racing but woke up sick. I was pretty bummed for him. It's too bad that a whole year (or more) of training can basically go to waste if you have one bad day.
After a quick stop at Starbucks, we loaded up and headed to the top of the third big hill of the course. We ran into many fans from Des Moines. We were there for at least 3-4 hours before getting back downtown for the run.
The weather was still amazing, so being a fan was a lot of fun. We ate and made numerous trips to and from State Street and the finish line. Renae got to see a lot of Tom, and I got to cheer for a bunch of friends who were competing. It was fun to watch nearly everyone have great days - my friend Bob even PR'd by over an hour! And this was his fifth IM Wisconsin! He finally had a good weather day and took advantage of it!
(I had to take a picture of this guy. If you look carefully, he is wearing a cotton Faith Hill concert t-shirt. Not only was he one of the very few people who wore a non-technical fabric for a warm weather IM, but of all the shirts he owned, he picked the Faith Hill one... Other interesting clothing options I saw included a full (removeable) boot cast (I heard she biked and ran in it), running the marathon in Crocs, and running barefoot.)
As the night wore on, I hung out with Terri, her friend Cam, and her dad. Roehr went to the finish line to "catch" the finishers as the cross the line. We must have walked 10 miles all over the place to see everyone! One more trip to Starbucks (my second of the day and second of my lifetime) for beverages, then back down to State Street for, what else, ice cream! This time it was Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch!
Terri, Cam, and her dad left to go home at about 15:30:00 race time. I wanted to go home very badly at that time, too, but I thought that it might be bad karma to not stay and cheer on the finishers who finished at 16:30:00 (my finish time last year). I wandered back to the stands at the finish line and clapped and cheered and had a great time by myself thinking about last year and watching the clock approach midnight. I went home after the final athletes crossed the finish line, and my legs felt like I had just done an Ironman!
I awoke the next morning to rain, 50 degree temps, and wind... boy were they lucky!
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