Ironman Texas was two days ago. We were fortunate enough to have a professional triathlete stay with us for the duration of her time in Houston, aka a homestay. I tried to sign up for the program with WTC, but they just didn’t seem that interested and never replied to my submission.
Fortunately for us I said something to the captain of the Team RWB Triathlon team, and she was looking for someone for Jessica Jacobs. We really didn’t know what to expect with the homestay and didn’t get very much guidance from anyone. In the end we treated her like a family member and had a wonderful time.
Jessica’s husband Jake, and her daughter Kasey showed up a couple of days after Jessica and they too were wonderful. I took what time she shared with us and tried not to get too much into her space, what with the big race and all, though I certainly would have loved more time with her.
We may never see any of them again, but I truly enjoyed our time together and hope that we can stay in touch!
This was my first Ironman experience. I spent two days at the expo getting caught up in Ironman fever (it is very contagious) and by race morning I was again thinking I could and should try this one day.
I volunteered at the swim start, which was a boring job and I wouldn’t do it again; although I did get to see the mass start from up close and personal. It was amazing to see over 2000 athletes churning up the water. It wasn’t wetsuit legal, but a bunch of people chose to forgo the opportunity for a Kona slot (like that was going to happen for them!) and wore one anyway. My only action that morning was helping one lady who started in a wetsuit and then decided she didn’t want it any more. I just looked her up, and she did indeed finish in 16:22, with a swim time of 2:14. I think the swim cut off was 2:20. I heard that several people didn’t make the swim cutoff, including one guy by only 20 seconds.
After the swimmers passed me by I walked over to the swim exit in time to see the first swimmers coming out. I stuck around long enough to see all of the professionals exit, including Kelly Williamson in first place, and my homestay Jessica. It was then a long walk back to my car to find the run aid station where I would spend the next 7 hours.
At the aid station we spent the first hour cutting up Power Bars, and oranges, filling cups with water, coke and some Gatorade type drink. I finally moved down to the sponge station where I spent the bulk of my time. I got to see all of the pros come by and handed many of them ice-cold sponges. I don’t know how they did it, but they would be eating with one hand, cups of water to drink in the other, and still grab several sponges!
The run was a three loop course and we were able to watch the race unfold as the runners came by. I got to see American Tim O’Donnell run from fourth into second place, but the best part was watching Kelly. The first time she came by she was in 8th or 9th place. by lap two she had moved up a few spots, and by the last loop she was in 3rd place. She ended up in second place and the first American. As this was the US Championship, Tim and Kelly are the reigning national champs!
I also watched Jessica, who didn’t have as good of a day. It started when we all overslept. They only overslept by a few minutes, whereas I overslept by over half an hour. I was so late that I couldn’t lead them to the Woodlands, and they ended up getting lost! I don’t know exactly how she did on the swim, but she was near the end of the pack of the professional women. Once out on the bike course she lost all of her nutrition early on and really suffered. By the time she came by on the run she was really hurting. I don’t think she saw me until the second lap. This time I got up right next to her as she walked by. I asked her if she needed anything and she just wanted me to talk to her. I walked with her for a bit, where she told me she was sorry for not doing well and promised to finish the race. I didn’t have any magic words for her, and she ended up dropping out at the end of the second loop.
I learned a lot about a lot of things this weekend. The professionals are human like the rest of us, and we all can have good and bad days. The question is what will we do the next day. I know what Jessica did: she got up and went for a run, played with her daughter, took a nap, and went to a fund raiser for Team RWB.
I went to the fund raiser dinner as well, where I bought an original oil painting done by Christina Quijano. Here is a picture of it that was posted on the Internet: Triathlon painting. Anyway, the painting was sold by silent auction, and Tim O’Donnell and I got into a bidding war. I suspect this is the only time in my life that I will beat Tim!
So ends blog Monday, another day that I spent getting tortured by the dentist. Hopefully I only have one more of these in the near future.
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