The Day of Cowbell

Last week was Ironman St. George, the week since has been so busy at home I haven't had a chance to really comment on it, this morning is no different, we are off to Mormon Helping Hands in about an hour, but maybe I can at least get it started.

Can I just say--scary. If I had to sum it all up in one word that would be it. So here is mom's spectator report.

Scary event #1, on our first night there dad woke up having back spasms and difficulty breathing, the breathing part worried me more than the spasms. He was in so much pain he finally got dressed, which meant a trip to the ER. Dad has been to the ER twice in the 30 years we've been married so if he was ready to go I knew he was in serious pain. Kevin woke up and gave him a blessing, the spasms started to subside and we didn't end up going to the ER, his breathing seemed to improve with the pain lessening.

Scary event #2, Friday we drove out to Sand Hollow to drop off gear bags and bikes, Craig was ok but not 100%. What might be so scary about Sand Hollow? Wind, lots of wind, whitecaps on the reservoir. If there was anything that was going to take Craig out of this race it would be the swim. There have been tri's at Sand Hollow where the swim has actually been cancelled due to the wind.

Scary event #3, SWIM- Saturday morning I dropped dad and Kev off at the busses at 4:30, they caught busses near the finish line, while spectators would catch the busses in Hurricane. We said what dad was sure were his last good byes and I went to KR's hotel to meet her, Meredith and Marky, we all went out to Hurricane and boarded our busses. We got to the swim venue and it was the most gorgeous day you could ever have asked for, no wind. We found Scott S right away but it took awhile to find Craig and Kev. We didn't find them till right before it was time for them to get into the water.

There they all go, at this point I didn't know where they were, we went to position ourselves somewhere to get a good view of the swim. You have exactly 2:20 to do the swim in, not only get out of the water but to the top of the boat ramp where the timing mat is. It was now just a waiting game. Waiting, waiting...finally Scott S is out of the water with an incredibly good time but very, very cold. He takes awhile in T1 he said the volunteers made him sit 15 minutes to warm up. Meredith's brother in law gave us VIP bracelets (thank you, thank you) so I was able to actually get right down on the boat ramp to watch for Craig and Kev. I knew the swim would be tough for Craig, but I honestly thought he would probably be out between 1:45 and 2:00 hours. Waiting, waiting. Getting scared, really scared, at about 2:14 KR sees them, whew I run down to get a picture...not them. I look out into the water, they now have six minutes and I spot them, come on, come on, keep swimming you're going to make it. Honestly even though they were so close I wasn't sure, it seemed their forward progress was just stalled. Finally they make it, Kev comes out of the water looking good, a volunteer grabs Craig and steadies him, Kev pokes him in the side, "come on dad, we've got to get up this ramp". I'm screaming and jumping up and down, you made it, you made it.

He's looking strong! I was so relieved (could you imagine

dad if he hadn't made that cut-off). I hurried as fast as I could off the boat ramp to the bike exit. KR said one more swimmer after dad made the cut-off. The announcer announced that everyone still in the water would not make it. The crowd got very quiet and Meredith shouted, "I don't like that rule!" The whole crowd cheered.

I was surprised how fast they made it out of T1, less than 10 minutes, giving them exactly 8 hours + a minute or two to do the bike. We got back on our busses, back to our cars and went to positions ourselves at Red Hills Parkway for the bike and run.

Scary event #4 THE BIKE Honestly I didn't think I would be worried about the bike, since dad put so much effort into swim training (really he did) the bike training got a little neglected, but dad is strong and I knew he could power through it. The browser on my phone wasn't up to date or something so I couldn't track them on my phone. I wasn't worried until grandpa called me with his first split, from Sand Hollow to the first loop he was only averaging 14.2, he had to average 14 to finish in time and the loops were the hard part. Now I was scared. All we could do is wait, we didn't get there in time to see the start of the first loop so they would be at about 70 miles before we saw them. Scott came through, no Craig...no Kevin. They were about an hour behind Scott on the first loop and the winds were kicking up. The next time we would see them they would be at about 110 miles with 2 miles left back into town and T2. Grandpa called and said they had averaged 14.8 on the first loop, ok but remember the winds were kicking up, Scott came through, I knew that if they could stay about an hour behind Scott they would still make it. It was getting close, the bike cut-off was 5:30 pm. 5:00 pm there they are, they would make it.

Here they come, about 5:00 pm they would make the cut-off. We were going crazy cheering.

There they go. We had a great surprise for them. Brian had come down and got there in time to see the end of the bike.

Scary event #5--They made the swim and the bike, we were all so sad to see the cyclists come through who had not made the cut-off, it was a very, very tough bike course, with added head and crosswinds. But...we are onto the run, piece of cake right, dad is a marathoner at heart, he'll do a run over a bike or swim anytime, he qualified for Boston again last October, I can breathe a heavy sigh, they have 6 1/2 hours to finish and Dad is a 3:30 marathoner. No worries. We walk across the street and reposition ourselves on Snow Canyon Parkway. It seems to take forever for them to get from T2 to where we are, I'm not too worried, it seemed to take Scott a long time too. At this point Craig has not said one word to me all day, I got a thumbs up as he started the bike and a smile (or was that a grimace?) on the bike. I see him and Kev coming, I run out to kiss him and he says "I'm in trouble." Only words I've heard him say in 10 hours. At this point he's only two miles in, I remind him he has lots of time and tell him to pick it up (I'm sure that was appreciated). Kev said he finally got his legs back and they started a run walk. Update from grandpa, they were running just under 12 minute splits. He was doing better than he thought he was.

They're beginning their second (and last loop). A truck load of glow sticks pulls up and the volunteers ask for some help putting the glow sticks together and handing them out. Bri's on glow stick duty and gets to glowstick Dad and Kev at their next pass through.


Brian working hard at his glow stick duty. It was so fun to have him there. We watched Craig and Kev make their third pass and then Brian and I started down to the finish line to stake out a place to watch them finish. We were so happy, we knew they would do it.

There they are, they are in the finish chute, they are my Ironmen.

The next morning, in their finisher jackets

I still don't think it's washed off!

Craig has said no more, he will never do another Ironman--we'll see after the pain goes away and the all that is left is the glory.

I had a great day with great friends cheering on those I love. KR had the monster of all cowbells and it was put to good use. It was a long day but I loved every minute of it. Thanks especially to Brian for making it, and thanks to Brent who wanted to be there but got put on Barrio Logan chauffeur duty.