So last Sunday I spent the day cheering on several teammates at a very hot 1/2 Ironman in Maryland. A group of us had gone to cheer on some teammates last year so I knew what to expect and it was pretty much as I remembered...HOT!
Kendra (a great friend and now roommate) was trying to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona by finishing first in her age group. Second place would qualify for 1/2 Ironman World Championships in Vegas but her dream was set on Kona. Chris, another teammate, was also working on qualifying for Kona so a group of us decided to go cheer them on.
Jen picked me up at 4:15am (yeah that was rough). Four of us drove two hours to cheer them on. We got there in time to watch the pros exiting the swim. I was very excited to see 3X Kona Champ Craig Alexander there and he did win. He is an amazing athlete.
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| Jen and Sherri ready to cheer! (Both racing Ironman Wisconsin with me) |
It was a wave start so Chris was first out and in third in his age group, followed by Andy, and then later by Kendra. Kendra finished 31st in her age group after the swim and not gonna lie, Jen, Sherri, and I were getting worried. What is important to know about Kendra, she is a kick ass biker and runner, but not the strongest at swimming so her worst part of the race was behind her.
Once we saw her leave the water, we went to claim a seat by the bike in and run out transition area. Sherri and I were the cripples in the group(she had surgery on her knee one week after me...ended up being an IT problem) and enjoyed sitting in the shade while it lasted. We cheered on more Zrs that were racing and finally the pros started biking in. Always fun to see people you watch on tv in person. The women started coming in 10-15 minutes later so again we were on our feet cheering.
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| First guy off the bike was Craig Bennett |
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| Craig Alexander coming in off the bike |
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| Meredith Kessler--won the woman's race easily |
Once the pros were out on the run, the age groupers started to come in. Chris was one of the first non-pros off the bike. He looked great finishing the bike and starting the run.
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| Chris off the bike |
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| Chris on the run |
Andy was the next off the bike along with several other Zrs. It is always fun to be able to cheer on as many teammates as possible. It was a long hot day and they still had 13.1 miles to run with very little shade.
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| Andy off the bike |
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| Go Andy! |
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| Crowie wins the race! |
Kendra had a great bike (several stops for bike complications) and went from 31 to 13 in her age group. She took off fast on the run and we waited patiently to see how many people she could catch. Luckily, as I said before, she is an awesome runner. She kicked butt on the second half of the run and finished around 4:50 in second place in her age group. She did not get the Kona slot (neither did Chris since he also finished 2nd), but she, Chris, and Andy did qualify for the 70.3 World Championships in Vegas.
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| Kendra smiling entering T2 |
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| Go catch those girls Kendra! |
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| Great race for 2nd in age group |
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| Chris, Andy, and Kendra cooling down after the race |
Cheering on at a triathlon is a long day, but so much fun. All the Zrs looked great and had fun. Way to go Chris, Andy, Kendra and all other Zrs! On a side not, cheering for triathlons isn't as much fun to do while sitting so of course my knee wasn't happy at the end of the day, but it was well worth it!
