My parents sent a text the night before...Grandpa and Brynn made this little creation out of play-dough! =)
It may look somewhat light outside in this picture, but it was DARK...we had to get up at 4:30 so get Ryan out the door and drive to Benton Harbor to meet with the rest of the guys and then head to the race. They had to have their little "transition area" (you know, where they change out of their wetsuit and throw their bike helmet on, get on their bike, change from bike gear to running shoes, etc.) all set up pretty early. So it was an EARLY morning...but really fun. Thankfully I'm a morning person. =) And our hotel had a sweet coffee bar. =)
2500 bikes and transition spots...clearly I didn't get a very good picture of that. =)
Since there are so many racers, they start in "waves", which basically means that your age group starts together separate from everyone else. They all wear a chip, so you can beat people that start before or after you, it's just all about your time. One of Ryan's buddies started way before him, and Ryan and Matt started together, since they are in the same age group. Jason and Alex started a little later. But this way, you don't get kicked in the face (as much...ha!) when you jump into the water (which I kept calling the ocean, but evidently is just Lake Michigan, but it definitely looked like the ocean). =)
Getting ready before the race...
I think that's Ryan in the light blue swim cap...(every age group got a different color).
Starting to take off the wet-suit...
I watched him leave on the bike, but then had an almost 3 hour break so I took my towel on the sand and laid down and read a People Magazine and a book for a little bit...then I headed out on the running part of the race so I could find the guys a couple of times on the run.
We could track them online and Ryan was doing AWESOME. (A girl I used to run in high school with, and who now trains professionally as a triathlete gave them some tips for not going out too hard on the bike to save their legs for the run. Ryan was following her advice exactly, and it was amazing how fast he was able to run it. Thanks Kim!)
I'm not super geographically inclined, so when my friend Kristi texted me this picture of the run course I was like "oh great..." I only asked for help like 5 times as I tried to follow this map to get to a good viewing location. =) But I got to see all the guys run through and it was great cheering for them! And Ryan was having the race of his life, so it was really fun to watch!
There were 3 different teams in the race where a dad pulled his handicapped son on the race (like, strapped his son in an inflattable raft and pulled him while swimming, pulled him in a bike buggy thing, and pushed a wheelchair/stroller. Can you imagine doing that? I watched the swim helpers help two different dads get their kids out of the water and loaded into the bike and it was SO EMOTIONAL to watch. I tried to hold back the ugly cry, but it was overwhelming to watch. People were cheering for them, and one of the sons was cheering for his dad. It was amazing.
His goal was to finish in under five hours and thirty minutes, and he finished in five hours and fourteen minutes! WHOA! GO RYAN!
After the race we headed back to our hotel in South Bend and relaxed for a couple of hours before going to grab dinner. We found this Irish (shocking I know) pub place and it was really good!
He was so happy, but he also couldn't hardly walk in this picture. =)
What a GREAT weekend! So proud of him for training so hard and working his buns off. GOOD JOB RYAN! You are a stud!
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