Augusta Ironman 70.3

A couple of weekends ago, Jack and I took a trip to Augusta Georgia for the inaugural Augusta Ironman 70.3. If you are unfamiliar with triathlon terminology, an "Ironman" is a race where you swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon! (26.2 miles) So, you may be asking what an "Ironman 70.3" is.... well, it's a half-ironman. 1.2 (mile swim) + 56 (mile bike) + 13.1 (mile run) = 70.3! And that's what Jack did last weekend while me, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew chased around Augusta to get glimpses of him along the way.... :)

Getting the bike numbered and ready for the race.

This was a view of the 'transition area' - there were 3,400 people registered for this race -- this picture doesn't really do justice to the sea of bikes that were racked up and ready for their riders.

This was the view on the morning of the race down by the river as athletes were coming in and getting into their wetsuits and lining up for the swim at the start of the race. It was beautiful, but a little bit chilly, on the banks of the Savannah River.

Our support crew. :)

Swimmers in Jack's age group lined up on the dock and ready to start... that's Jack with the arrow pointing to him.

We were caught a little off guard when Jack came out of the swim to bike transition. He had told us that it would take about 45 minutes to do the swim, but he came whizzing by on his bike at around 33 minutes into the race! So, I totally didn't have my camera ready to catch that... so the first time I have any pictures of him in the race is after he got back into town from 56 miles on the bike and stared the run. We waited for him here, at mile marker 3...

Looking good and way ahead of pace at 3 miles!

...and at 6 miles....

Getting a little tired around 10 miles -- I think some cramps were starting to kick in... but still going strong!

Just one mile to go!! Definitely hurting at this point, over 5 1/2 hours into the race... but the finish is just around the corner. Unfortunately, the crowds were so crazy at the finish, I couldn't get to a place where I got a picture of him crossing the finish line. But he did!! :) His finish time was 5 hours and 43 minutes -- 17 minues faster than his goal of doing it in 6 hours. Yay! So he was very pleased with that and it was a great '1st try' at this kind of race.

EPILOGUE:

After making our way through the crowds, we found Jack and he was definitely tired... and a little woozy. So he sat for a minute and seemed OK. We had to walk back to our cars - Tom and Lisa's was closest so we got there, and as Jack was getting into the car, his leg cramped up really, really bad. Well, in the midst of trying to work the cramp out, I think the pain of that and the dehydration got to him and he passed out. (yikes) Fortunately, we realized that was about to happen and Tom and I caught him and hauled him back into the car. SO, we called over an ambulance and they decided to take him into the ER for some fluids and to get his blood pressure stabilized. So, not only did Jack do his first triathlon, but he got to have his first ride in an ambulance! ;-) After a couple of hours at the ER and a liter of fluids, he was much better. We ended up staying an extra night in Augusta (thanks to mom and dad for keeping our girls on a Sunday night and getting them to school the next morning!!) and coming home the next day. And after all that, he's already looking ahead to doing another one! :)