Life As We Know It: And he does it again!!!

My wonderful husband never ceases to AMAZE me! We spent this past weekend in Wilmington, NC for the Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon. While this is not an official Ironman Triathlon Event, it is the same distance. Therefore, we can say Brad completed his first ever "IRONMAN"!!! He had set a personal goal of finishing the event around the 13 hour mark, but he outdid himself and crossed the finish line at 12 hours and 37 minutes. Now, before I start in on what all happened this weekend, let me preface this blog entry with what the actual distance of an Ironman Triathlon is - 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bicycle ride + 26.2 mile run = 140.6 total miles with 17 hours to complete it! So, if you ever see someone driving around with a sticker on their car that says, "140.6," now you know what it means and know they have a huge accomplishment under their belt.

Brad has spent many hours and made many sacrifices over the past year training for this event. Almost every Sunday for the past couple months have been consumed with 7 to 8 hours worth of straight training to prepare himself. Plus several hours per day 3-4 days per week of training. It has been grueling and testing for both of us, but his hard work paid off. All along the way his family and friends have been behind him 100% with prayers, support and encouragement.

On to the days leading up to the event and the actual event itself...Brad & I headed to Wrightsville Beach, NC Thursday evening after I got off work where we shared a condo on the beach with his parents and my parents. Friday was a full day. We got up, had breakfast at a great little restaurant called Causeway Grill (I think) at Wrightsville Beach with my parents, then we headed to downtown Wilmington. Brad had to pick-up his event registration packet and sit-in on a 1 hour event orientation meeting. They had a small Expo set-up with vendors where we checked out some goodies and Brad got a 15 minute pre-triathlon massage. We also headed to Try Sports to get his tire looked at before the big event and he ended up having to get a new one. After all that was done, we headed back to Wrightsville Beach where Transition 1 was set-up. There he set-up his bike and gear for the first transition the next day. This is the transition station he comes into after he finishes the swim portion and gets ready for the bike ride. He also had to prepare a series of "goody" bags and get them labeled - he had 5 bags to be exact. The bags have items in them for each transition station plus 2 "special needs" bags he gets at the half way point of the bike and run if he needed them. The first bag he did and prepared Saturday morning before the event started because he put all of his clean, dry clothes in it to put back on after the event was over; the second bag contained all of his gear/clothing he needed to change into after the swim to prepare for the bike ride; the third bag was a special needs bags that he could put snacks, additional clothing and/or gear in for the halfway point thru the bike ride; the fourth bag had his gear/clothing he needed to change into after the bike to prepare for the run; and the fifth bag was his "special needs" bag for the halfway point during the run. He finished all of that just after dark and we headed back to the condo for a Low Country Boil feast. His parents also came in Friday evening after work. Dinner was great and excitement of the next day's event had us all super excited, but we knew it would get here all to quick, so we have to make ourselves head to bed.

Wow, 4:30am came way to quick Saturday morning. Brad was trying to be quiet while he got up and ready for the day, but I woke-up anyway. He headed out to the first transition area around 5:15/5:30am to finish getting set-up. The event was supposed to start at 7:00am (it actually started at 7:05am), but spectators were not allowed at the start line for the swim because of limited space and parking. Therefore, the rest of us got ready and headed out to the first transition area at 7:30am to see Brad come in from the 2.4 mile swim. We got there a little early to make sure we got a parking space and a good space to see him come in and get some pictures. Brad finished the swim around 7:25am (his official time was 1:22:39). He spent about 15 minutes in the transition area getting dried off, changed and re-fueled, then he headed out on his bicycle for the 112 mile "joy" ride. He estimated it would take him around 6 hrs. 15 min. to complete this leg of the event, so we headed over to downtown Wilmington to make sure we got a good parking space for the day. We parked directly across from the Hilton which is where all the trolleys and water taxis were to take spectators over to the Battleship for remainder of the event. We then walked down the riverfront, checked out the local farmers market they have set-up on Water Street, did some shopping then headed to lunch at a cute little restaurant with outside tables by the water. It was so yummy! After lunch, we headed back to the Hilton and jumped on a trolley. We wanted to take the water taxi, but the line looked like it was probably 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. long. It was only a 3 mile ride, so the trolley (with no line) got us there in about 5 minutes or so. It dropped us off at the end of the road going to the battleship, so we had a 1/2 mile walk to get to the second transition area. Luckily, we planned our time well to make sure we didn't miss Brad coming in on his bike. We made the 1/2 mile trek to the Battleship, took a short walk around the event area, then found a spot to watch for Brad coming in. While we were watching for Brad, there was this tractor trailer hauling this HUGE piece of metal down the two lane road the runners and bikers were trying to use. There was supposed to be no vehicles on the road that day so the athletes had plenty of room. During the commotion of this big distraction we almost missed Brad. He came in 10 minutes earlier than he thought, got stuck behind this truck and got into the transition area right when the truck was coming by us and they were moving all the spectators off the road. We got a few pictures of him coming in, but not great ones because of the commotion from the truck coming thru. He completed the bike ride in 6:05:45 and got thru the transition area in just under 10 minutes. After he hoped off his bike, I ran to the other end of the transition area to the run start to try and get a good spot for some pictures. When I got over there, I found the perfect place with no one around and the parents joined me shortly after. It was great! Brad came out of the transition area and thru the run start shortly after I got there and I got some great pictures. He was all smiles, seemed to be in good shape with plenty of energy, gave me the thumbs up and an exchange of "I Love You's". What started in chaos during that transition turned out nice and smooth. Brad estimated it would take him between 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours to complete the 26.2 mile run. Up until this point, the farthest distance Brad had ever ran was 18 miles, so this was going to be the ultimate test for him. He had participated in two half marathons, but never a full marathon. The course was two 13.1 mile loops across the bridge and down Water Street during this last leg of the event, so we planned it to make sure we saw him while he was running. We made the 1/2 mile hike back to the trolley (and saw 2 more tractor trailers coming in with more of those HUGE metal things in tow) and back to the Hilton just in time to find a spot a see Brad pass by during the second half of his first 13.1 mile loop. Again we got several good pictures and Brad's mom, Lisa, decided to run a short distance with him. It was so cute and I think he enjoyed the support and encouragement. It was a cool set-up, dad got him a seat on the balcony at the little pub down the street so he could have a beer and watch for Brad at the same time, mom set-up shop on the corner just over from the pub and Doug, Lisa & I were a little further down the street. Dad finally saw Brad and started pointing to him, mom completely missed him, but we saw dad pointing then saw Brad. So, it worked out even though mom was bummed she missed the photo op. Oh, I forgot to mention, we missed the last NCSU home football game of the season for this event, so throughout the day some of our friends kept me up to date on the score of the game. When Brad ran by I told him the score and he said, "You weren't supposed to tell me that." He was being superstitious and thought we would lose if I told him or something, but no worries, NCSU pulled out a triumphant victory with a 38-3 win over Wake Forest. GO PACK!!! Now back to the progression of the day...We walked around to the shops a little more then headed to another cute little restaurant on the riverfront and got a table by the water for dinner. It was 5:00pm and starting to get dark by now and the temperature was really cooling down. Based on our calculations, we had 1 hour to eat and get back on the street if we wanted to see Brad pass by one more time before the end of the event. We decided to do appetizers to try and save some time. I was "guesstimating" Brad would pass by somewhere around 6:05pm, so I ran out to the road at 6:00pm while everyone was settling up on dinner to make sure we didn't miss him. After everyone else got out there and I still hadn't seen Brad pass by, we started making our way back to the trolley along the run path. Well, we got back to the trolley and waited till about 6:30pm and never saw Brad. I knew he wasn't off his pace that much, so I was scared we had missed him. Just to be on the safe side we went ahead and got on the trolley and headed back to the Battleship for our final time of the evening. We got over there, made the 1/2 mile hike to the transition area, sought out a good spot and set-up camp. We got in place around 7:00pm with plenty of time to spare. I knew that if we had missed Brad pass by earlier and he was still holding his pace, he would get to the finish line around 7:35pm or so. If he had gotten off pace and slowed down quite a bit, it could be as late as 8:30pm before we would see him. Brad's dad, Doug, had the same thinking I did and thought he was still on pace and we had just missed him at the last spot. Brad never ceases to amaze us. He stayed on pace and around 7:35pm he came running down the road towards us. I was so excited and jumped out in the road to finish the race with him!!! He did it! He beat his personal goal of 13 hours for the event! He completed the run in 4:43:05 and crossed the finish line in 12:37:00!!!

There were somewhere around 650 people registered to participate in the full iron distance event and about 800 people registered for the half distance. Out of that, there were about 530 people that actually participated in the full and Brad finished #150 out of the 429 men (I'm still waiting to see his overall rank) that actually participated in the full iron distance. He was exhausted and hungry when he finished, so I took him straight to the food tent where he devoured a slice of pizza. He then headed to the massage tent for a much needed massage and then warmed up in the "warming" tent. Dad, Doug & I headed over and gathered all of Brad's goodies while he rested and got warmed up. It was a crazy day of varied temperatures from start to finish. The air temperature was around 41 degrees F and the water temperature was around 65 degrees F when they started at 7:05am. It warmed up to a sunny 71 or 72 degrees F during the peak of the day and was quickly back down in the upper 40's after the sun went down. Needless to say, the athletes were freezing as soon as they crossed the finish line and stopped moving around. Brad changed into his dry clothes, we got in line, boarded the water taxi with his bike and bags in tow. We all piled into Lisa's Avalon to come downtown not thinking that we would have to get Brad back after the event. So, Doug volunteered to stay back with Brad's bike, we headed back to transition 1 where dad grabbed the Jeep and headed back to pick-up Doug and the bike. I drove Brad, mom & Lisa back to the condo where Brad just wanted to get back and enjoy a piece of Key Lime Pie! What a day! What an adventure! We are so proud of Brad and his accomplishment! He even said he wants to do it again!

In addition, I want to thank all of our family and friends for your continued support, encouragement and prayers throughout Brad's training and on the day of the event. It all really paid off. Thank you also to all of our wonderful family and friends for the text messages throughout the day to keep up with how Brad was doing and were he was in the event. Brad's 12 hours of constant "working out" even encouraged a couch potato to get his butt up and out the door for an afternoon run. Glad Brad could be your motivation. Now, I will leave you with a few pictures from the day. Enjoy...