An Ironman is swimming 2.4 miles, then bike riding 112 miles, then finish it up with a little 26.2 mile marathon run. 140.6 total miles.
This is a race that requires a lot of training, usually a solid year of working out doing shorter races of all sorts and combinations, early mornings and late nights. I think the part that bothers me the most is the long bike rides during the last couple of months of training. Sometimes she is out there very early in the morning and riding for 3 to 6 hours a day on her own. As a mom, you know how we worry about our kids even as they're grown up and on their own.
This race was on Saturday, Nov 3. We got to our camp site on Wednesday and Dawn and her training partner, Robyn, arrived that same night. Dawn's dog Tucker was with us, he was very glad to his momma.
The girls stayed in a condo located just off the beach where the swim would take place. Yes this swim, which kicks off the race was to take place in the Gulf. Also worrisome to any mom.
Now I have some pictures.
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| Ok, this race started at 7am, which means we had to get out there early enough to watch the start. |
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| It was still a little dark as we were trying to make our way to the water. The beach was pretty crowded with racers and spectators with signs and posters to encourage their athlete. |
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| Crowds, crowds, crowds. |
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| Swimmers had to get into the water, they all start at the same time, when the horn sounds. |
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| Trouble is this day the waves were a good 3 to 4 feet. This makes getting into the water a little difficult. |
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| After swimming a little over 1/2 mile out to sea, then you swim back to the shore go back to the starting area, out again, then back in again. |
Dawn did pretty well in the swim, she finished it in under 1hour 45 minutes. That wasn't bad considering her Garmin recorded that she had actually swam over 3 miles. There was a lot of tossing around out there.
Good start to a long day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,more to come.
Donna
