Iron Man

Boy was it hard to go to sleep the night before the Iron Man event. Well for everyone but Shad...funny huh??? We were all so excited!!! He was so calm and peaceful. I couldn't believe it. We fed him a yummy dinner and some Amy's Ice Cream we settled down for a restful uneventful evening.

The next morning was CRAZY...Shad was up and gone with my dad SO EARLY...I mean like 5:00am. I am so glad my parents came. I am not sure how I could have gotten us all up, dressed and ready to leave by then. A short while later mom and I got the kids there and bussed over to the swim start. Let me just say AMAZING!!!

As the event began we sang the Star Spangled Banner and two jumpers dropped to the ground from an airplane with HUGE flags. It was so neat to see. I am telling you...Iron Man events put Marathons to shame....I mean we love both but the community at these events is incredible and hugely contagious.

Ready for the Water...62 degrees.

Here is Shad's wave...It was insane to watch the different waves start. I have a great video I will post. Check out the great son rise. God made His presence known all day long.

BANG!!! And their OFF!!!

Here is where Shad (bate fish) earned his name.

He said this was scary..people grabbing, hitting, pulling...nothing on purpose just swimming so close together.

Love this picture.

Ok, I have no idea who that guy is but click on this pic to enlarge and check out the top of the picture where the water is. You can see 2 waves out in the water.

Here is the shoot they ran up after the swim. A few feet out of the water there was a team of people there to rip their wet suite off. Shad thought that was GREAT!!!

Now where is my bike?

You have to run your bike out and they tell you when you can actually get on and start riding so that there are not people crashing into each other.

Ok 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike ride down...time to start running!

WOW this picture is so bad but I was to busy screaming and cheering. You can see him behind the girl running if you enlarge the picture. As he was running by he said..."See ya on the next lap" Great attitude for being over 6 miles into a 13.1 mile run.

Look at that strong FINISH!!!

I couldn't be prouder!
( now we did spend some time in the med tent getting an IV for dehydration but all in all he was great)

OH YA...THAT's MY IRON MAN!!!!