I've yet to be involved in a race where I didn't race with someone I knew or have someone cheering for me. Spectators are a breed of their own. Some hold ridiculous signs, like in triathlon "Smile if you Peed in Your Wetsuit". Just know in triathlon, there's a lot of smiling when people see that sign. Or in the Half Marathon's I've ran, the sign that says "Push here for star power" and someone has taken the time to draw a symbol. Every single one of those I pass if I can, I push. It helps, ever so slightly I get my star power just like Mario in any of the Super Mario Brothers games.
Now in my everyday, non-peeing in my wetsuit, and non-star power days ...Will and I work completely different schedules. It's life as we know it, it's our life. That doesn't mean from time to time it doesn't take a toll on both of us. With my Monday-Friday, 9-5 work schedule I'm able to sign up for races, fill in for races, go watch races. Racing has become a big part of my weekends when I put it like that. As well with racing, people I didn't even know at this time a year ago have become a big part of my life.
Sunday, September 13, 2015 was a pretty Epic day. Now I'm not one to use such ridiculous terms, but Epic is the best term I can come up with. I was a spectator! I've not been a spectator! As I look back I have not cheered anyone on while on the side of the street or side of the race. Sure, I've cheered my fellow racers on out on the course, but I've not stood on the side spectating having not taken part in the race. On that Sunday, I had a two-for-one kind of spectating day.
Will completed Tough Mudder Wisconsin in Plymouth, WI. Where's Plymouth, WI you might ask? Well just know it's in a remote enough area to set up the 13+ mile run with 17 obstacles and a whole lot of mud. Or if you're still questioning that area, it's about 2 hours North East of Madison, WI.
Well over a year ago Will registered for Tough Mudder after he completed rehab from tearing his spine. His goal was to complete the event to show how much he had overcome. At the time he registered to participate and I registered to spectate, we weren't doing anything else. That was it. And at the time I said "Yeah, don't sign me up for that." So much has changed in the past year. So much for the better has changed. Nonetheless Will needed to complete Tough Mudder to complete his original goal. And even though everything had changed a year later, I still fully support the statement of "Yeah, don't sign me up for that" in regard to completing a Tough Mudder.
I'm very proud of my Tough Mudder, he completed the entire course in under 3 hours, which resulted in only a few scrapes and scratches. I saw someone just start oozing blood on one obstacle, so needless to say the handful of obstacles I was not able to watch Will on ... I was a nervous wreck. Once I saw Will come around a curve for the third to last obstacle I let out a sigh of relief and stood up on the hill I was previously sitting on.
Will completed it. I cheered him on. I took his photos on every obstacle. And as soon as I quickly could, I said "Now go hose off". The amount of mud that continued to come off of Will was alarming. I'm not convinced that they don't use some sort of different mud for that event. Not to mention the next day when I did laundry, well, the mud was still lingering. Lingering mud or not, Will is a Tough Mudder. He completed his goal, and I spectated as much as I could.
Now I said I had a two for one spectating day. We left Plymouth and headed to Madison. We agreed, the drive to Plymouth from Madison took longer than from Plymouth to Madison. Maybe it was the nerves Will had on the way? Maybe it was the excitement we had to go back to Madison? What were we doing in Madison you ask? We were going to see Kristine and Matt, our friends who had either raced with me and cheered me on at Esprit de She or come to cheer both Will and I on in Chicago. Our awesome friends were racing IRONMAN Wisconsin.
Due to Tough Mudder we had missed the swim portion of IRONMAN Wisconsin and the majority of the bike. However that also meant that we would see the most important part, the finish. Will and I got to Madison and according to tracking online our friends were still on their bikes with about 35 miles to go. We found a parking spot at a business that was closed and confirmed with an officer watching traffic flow that we could park there for an hour or less. He said he was fine with it and we could stay all day if we wanted!
Will and I planted ourselves on the side of the road and waited. We feverishly tracked them as best as we could. Now we can be honest that maybe we didn't pick the best spot to cheer our friends on and wait for them. We chose a spot that came off of a turn. This turn I speak of came off of a hill. Oh and once the cyclists turned, they had to go back up a hill. So basically all the cyclists we saw were downshifting as fast as they could. As well some took the turn really wide and I was frightened for them. I will say as the impressively skilled athletes they all were, we didn't see a single crash and we saw a couple of great recoveries.
By our mathematics, knowing ours friends riding pace, and online tracking we knew they were coming and the small but mighty crowd that was in our area would cheer them on. We finally spotted Matt and yelled for him. It was at that time he revealed he blew a tire at mile 3. Not a tube, a tire. It was that ah-ha moment I had been waiting for! Matt's first posted 18 miles were far slower than I know he bikes and I was convinced something had happened. Alas we knew. He kept peddling on as he yelled back to us. Up next was tracking Kristine for us to see her round that corner so we could then get over to the run portion. We finally spotted her, cheered for her, and she yelled back "This blows!" Triathletes are honest, honest people. I yelled back "We love you, keep biking!" And as soon as she was out of our sight we made a run for the truck to get to the next portion.
Now, what Kristine doesn't know is I missed her three more times. As we were in traffic to get to a parking garage, the bike finish was next to us. I actually hopped out of the truck at a stop light and ran to the side of the bike lane with other spectators. I waited for a bit and realize I had to have missed her, which I confirmed on the tracker. I next bolted for the transition area knowing she'd have to change for her run. As fate would have it I had just missed her. I next took off to see if I could catch her on the start of the run course. In the true fashion of my prior two attempts .... I had just missed her by .1 miles. Our ability to track said she'd be back where I was globally located in 12 miles. In the turn of less than 30 minutes I had just missed her three times ... within minutes.
Will and I met after he parked the truck and we set up our cheering camp with thousands of other spectators. The environment we were in was inspiring and electric. So many people. Some walking, some giving it their all. Others getting through it. There was a guy next to us who had an IMWI hat from 2014 on and a Lake Placid IM Shirt on dated 2013. That dude was an IRONMAN. And that dude, awesome. Everyone's name is on their race bib, and while some may have found it annoying as some of the runners who looked like they were struggling passed by he'd give them a cheer of encouragement with their name. I know it's not possible he knew all of those people, which is what made it so great to be around. I have no idea if those cheers from him helped those people as they passed, hell, some could have been annoyed and rolling their eyes. For me, the few races I have done, when some stranger has yelled out my bib number or my name and cheered me on, it gave me just a bit of energy to go harder and faster.
We saw Matt coming, he was approaching us and he looked like he needed our cheering. So I jumped in the street in front of him and yelled for him to come at us. And so he did. We even got him to pose and look like he hadn't just said "This effing sucks!" We ran across the street knowing he'd be back on the other side after his turn around. We cheered him on again and he asked if we had seen Kristine yet. I told him he would be seeing her before us, they were timing to pass one another. We ran to the other side of the street and we saw her coming. We jumped out to cheer for her too. She mentioned something about almost being half way done, and I told her "Keep running so we can go to the other side of the street and cheer you on once you're officially half way through!"
Will and I ran across the street and I waited for Kristine to come back by. She rounded the corner and was looking for me, yelling my name. She forgot to take her sunglasses off and leave them so she handed them off to me to hold onto. So for the time that she ran the next 13 miles I held her sunglasses on my head. I've made sure to tell her that her sunglasses hurt my head as she ran a half marathon, aka: the last leg of a FULL IRONMAN.
You might be wondering where Will was since I said we ran across the street, but I waited for her. Well you see, everyone around us for several hours was eating slices of pizza and drinking glasses of beer. Despite being active, beer and pizza are vices and they suddenly made the art of spectating seem like the most glorious event ever! We realized we were standing across and down the street from a pizza place. So, Will did what any spectator in the year 2015 would do ... he went to the pizza places website on his smart phone and ordered pizza. Will didn't see Kristine pass by on her way out for her final run loop, and while she may not agree, let's be honest, him picking up the pizza was pretty important.
Will and I had our pizza with us and we started toward the finish line. We knew we still had a couple hours, but we had to eat, relax, and then settle into the finish chute area. We headed to a coffee shop that I like in Wisconsin, who also serves their own craft beer on their patio. Judge if you want, but yes we brought our pizza from down and around the corner, ordered beer and coffee, and sat on the patio eating and drinking as we watched runners. It was relaxing, it was fun, it was us. And best of all we met a few finishers who were taking it all in and talked to them. It made the experience that much more surreal.
We finished up our pizza, turned in our glasses, and with coffee in hand we headed to the finish area. We actually found ourselves a spot to stand in and any feelings I had of inspiration prior during that day was thrown out the window entirely standing in that area. There were thousands of people just lining the area. All cheering. All clapping. All screaming. To see the finishers round the corner to the final straight away to hear Mike Reilly tell each person that THEY.ARE.AN.IRONMAN. Amazing. To see the look on their faces having no idea if this was their first attempt or tenth. Having no idea if they trained for years, months, or not at all. Taking it all in is still such an intense emotion.
Seeing our friends was obviously the highlight. Knowing the long hours they put into training, the sacrifices they made for getting to that goal. And yet knowing at that time, at that moment all of their hard work had paid off. Afterwards we went to congratulate them on their accomplishments. It was really an emotional experience for them and even us as spectators.
Someday it'll be my day. I'll have a race. I'll have that race (well maybe not Madison, that bike course is hilly). But that day, that day was about me being a spectator. From the early, dark hour going with Will to see him accomplish his year long goal and in a great time and injury free. After each obstacle I got to see him on I cheered him on and gave him a kiss. Well, except for that muddy ice bath obstacle. I actually told him ... "Uh, yeah, no you keep going, I'll see you on the next one I can watch you at." And then seeing Kristine and Matt at our random points we were at. They had other spectators there, other family and friends, but Will and I were on our own away from everyone else. Looking back I loved this about our spectating. Why? Because maybe right after they came off that hill, around the corner, and back up a hill they needed someone to cheer for them. And come on now, Kristine forgot to take her glasses off so it's a great thing I was there.
As I said, spectators are a breed of their own. While at first I felt strange clapping and cheering strangers on. At Tough Mudder I cheered for Will and really no one else. At IRONMAN I was timidly saying "Go cyclists" and not a single person heard me on that turn. To later in the day full out clapping, yelling for strangers as I witnessed people achieving a goal that is really unthinkable. 2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 mile bike ride, and ending with running 26.2 miles. 140.6 miles total from start to finish.
Inspired really still isn't the word to use, but it's the most cliche, and yet powerful word I can come up with from my day of spectating from literal sunrise to moon-rise. As a 16-hour spectator I can say I was beyond proud and moved by all of my little racers that day. And by little racers, you know, I mean, they're all taller than me.
Now in my everyday, non-peeing in my wetsuit, and non-star power days ...Will and I work completely different schedules. It's life as we know it, it's our life. That doesn't mean from time to time it doesn't take a toll on both of us. With my Monday-Friday, 9-5 work schedule I'm able to sign up for races, fill in for races, go watch races. Racing has become a big part of my weekends when I put it like that. As well with racing, people I didn't even know at this time a year ago have become a big part of my life.
Sunday, September 13, 2015 was a pretty Epic day. Now I'm not one to use such ridiculous terms, but Epic is the best term I can come up with. I was a spectator! I've not been a spectator! As I look back I have not cheered anyone on while on the side of the street or side of the race. Sure, I've cheered my fellow racers on out on the course, but I've not stood on the side spectating having not taken part in the race. On that Sunday, I had a two-for-one kind of spectating day.
Will completed Tough Mudder Wisconsin in Plymouth, WI. Where's Plymouth, WI you might ask? Well just know it's in a remote enough area to set up the 13+ mile run with 17 obstacles and a whole lot of mud. Or if you're still questioning that area, it's about 2 hours North East of Madison, WI.
Well over a year ago Will registered for Tough Mudder after he completed rehab from tearing his spine. His goal was to complete the event to show how much he had overcome. At the time he registered to participate and I registered to spectate, we weren't doing anything else. That was it. And at the time I said "Yeah, don't sign me up for that." So much has changed in the past year. So much for the better has changed. Nonetheless Will needed to complete Tough Mudder to complete his original goal. And even though everything had changed a year later, I still fully support the statement of "Yeah, don't sign me up for that" in regard to completing a Tough Mudder.
I'm very proud of my Tough Mudder, he completed the entire course in under 3 hours, which resulted in only a few scrapes and scratches. I saw someone just start oozing blood on one obstacle, so needless to say the handful of obstacles I was not able to watch Will on ... I was a nervous wreck. Once I saw Will come around a curve for the third to last obstacle I let out a sigh of relief and stood up on the hill I was previously sitting on.
Will completed it. I cheered him on. I took his photos on every obstacle. And as soon as I quickly could, I said "Now go hose off". The amount of mud that continued to come off of Will was alarming. I'm not convinced that they don't use some sort of different mud for that event. Not to mention the next day when I did laundry, well, the mud was still lingering. Lingering mud or not, Will is a Tough Mudder. He completed his goal, and I spectated as much as I could.
Now I said I had a two for one spectating day. We left Plymouth and headed to Madison. We agreed, the drive to Plymouth from Madison took longer than from Plymouth to Madison. Maybe it was the nerves Will had on the way? Maybe it was the excitement we had to go back to Madison? What were we doing in Madison you ask? We were going to see Kristine and Matt, our friends who had either raced with me and cheered me on at Esprit de She or come to cheer both Will and I on in Chicago. Our awesome friends were racing IRONMAN Wisconsin.
Due to Tough Mudder we had missed the swim portion of IRONMAN Wisconsin and the majority of the bike. However that also meant that we would see the most important part, the finish. Will and I got to Madison and according to tracking online our friends were still on their bikes with about 35 miles to go. We found a parking spot at a business that was closed and confirmed with an officer watching traffic flow that we could park there for an hour or less. He said he was fine with it and we could stay all day if we wanted!
Will and I planted ourselves on the side of the road and waited. We feverishly tracked them as best as we could. Now we can be honest that maybe we didn't pick the best spot to cheer our friends on and wait for them. We chose a spot that came off of a turn. This turn I speak of came off of a hill. Oh and once the cyclists turned, they had to go back up a hill. So basically all the cyclists we saw were downshifting as fast as they could. As well some took the turn really wide and I was frightened for them. I will say as the impressively skilled athletes they all were, we didn't see a single crash and we saw a couple of great recoveries.
By our mathematics, knowing ours friends riding pace, and online tracking we knew they were coming and the small but mighty crowd that was in our area would cheer them on. We finally spotted Matt and yelled for him. It was at that time he revealed he blew a tire at mile 3. Not a tube, a tire. It was that ah-ha moment I had been waiting for! Matt's first posted 18 miles were far slower than I know he bikes and I was convinced something had happened. Alas we knew. He kept peddling on as he yelled back to us. Up next was tracking Kristine for us to see her round that corner so we could then get over to the run portion. We finally spotted her, cheered for her, and she yelled back "This blows!" Triathletes are honest, honest people. I yelled back "We love you, keep biking!" And as soon as she was out of our sight we made a run for the truck to get to the next portion.
Now, what Kristine doesn't know is I missed her three more times. As we were in traffic to get to a parking garage, the bike finish was next to us. I actually hopped out of the truck at a stop light and ran to the side of the bike lane with other spectators. I waited for a bit and realize I had to have missed her, which I confirmed on the tracker. I next bolted for the transition area knowing she'd have to change for her run. As fate would have it I had just missed her. I next took off to see if I could catch her on the start of the run course. In the true fashion of my prior two attempts .... I had just missed her by .1 miles. Our ability to track said she'd be back where I was globally located in 12 miles. In the turn of less than 30 minutes I had just missed her three times ... within minutes.
Will and I met after he parked the truck and we set up our cheering camp with thousands of other spectators. The environment we were in was inspiring and electric. So many people. Some walking, some giving it their all. Others getting through it. There was a guy next to us who had an IMWI hat from 2014 on and a Lake Placid IM Shirt on dated 2013. That dude was an IRONMAN. And that dude, awesome. Everyone's name is on their race bib, and while some may have found it annoying as some of the runners who looked like they were struggling passed by he'd give them a cheer of encouragement with their name. I know it's not possible he knew all of those people, which is what made it so great to be around. I have no idea if those cheers from him helped those people as they passed, hell, some could have been annoyed and rolling their eyes. For me, the few races I have done, when some stranger has yelled out my bib number or my name and cheered me on, it gave me just a bit of energy to go harder and faster.
We saw Matt coming, he was approaching us and he looked like he needed our cheering. So I jumped in the street in front of him and yelled for him to come at us. And so he did. We even got him to pose and look like he hadn't just said "This effing sucks!" We ran across the street knowing he'd be back on the other side after his turn around. We cheered him on again and he asked if we had seen Kristine yet. I told him he would be seeing her before us, they were timing to pass one another. We ran to the other side of the street and we saw her coming. We jumped out to cheer for her too. She mentioned something about almost being half way done, and I told her "Keep running so we can go to the other side of the street and cheer you on once you're officially half way through!"
Will and I ran across the street and I waited for Kristine to come back by. She rounded the corner and was looking for me, yelling my name. She forgot to take her sunglasses off and leave them so she handed them off to me to hold onto. So for the time that she ran the next 13 miles I held her sunglasses on my head. I've made sure to tell her that her sunglasses hurt my head as she ran a half marathon, aka: the last leg of a FULL IRONMAN.
You might be wondering where Will was since I said we ran across the street, but I waited for her. Well you see, everyone around us for several hours was eating slices of pizza and drinking glasses of beer. Despite being active, beer and pizza are vices and they suddenly made the art of spectating seem like the most glorious event ever! We realized we were standing across and down the street from a pizza place. So, Will did what any spectator in the year 2015 would do ... he went to the pizza places website on his smart phone and ordered pizza. Will didn't see Kristine pass by on her way out for her final run loop, and while she may not agree, let's be honest, him picking up the pizza was pretty important.
Will and I had our pizza with us and we started toward the finish line. We knew we still had a couple hours, but we had to eat, relax, and then settle into the finish chute area. We headed to a coffee shop that I like in Wisconsin, who also serves their own craft beer on their patio. Judge if you want, but yes we brought our pizza from down and around the corner, ordered beer and coffee, and sat on the patio eating and drinking as we watched runners. It was relaxing, it was fun, it was us. And best of all we met a few finishers who were taking it all in and talked to them. It made the experience that much more surreal.
We finished up our pizza, turned in our glasses, and with coffee in hand we headed to the finish area. We actually found ourselves a spot to stand in and any feelings I had of inspiration prior during that day was thrown out the window entirely standing in that area. There were thousands of people just lining the area. All cheering. All clapping. All screaming. To see the finishers round the corner to the final straight away to hear Mike Reilly tell each person that THEY.ARE.AN.IRONMAN. Amazing. To see the look on their faces having no idea if this was their first attempt or tenth. Having no idea if they trained for years, months, or not at all. Taking it all in is still such an intense emotion.
Seeing our friends was obviously the highlight. Knowing the long hours they put into training, the sacrifices they made for getting to that goal. And yet knowing at that time, at that moment all of their hard work had paid off. Afterwards we went to congratulate them on their accomplishments. It was really an emotional experience for them and even us as spectators.
Someday it'll be my day. I'll have a race. I'll have that race (well maybe not Madison, that bike course is hilly). But that day, that day was about me being a spectator. From the early, dark hour going with Will to see him accomplish his year long goal and in a great time and injury free. After each obstacle I got to see him on I cheered him on and gave him a kiss. Well, except for that muddy ice bath obstacle. I actually told him ... "Uh, yeah, no you keep going, I'll see you on the next one I can watch you at." And then seeing Kristine and Matt at our random points we were at. They had other spectators there, other family and friends, but Will and I were on our own away from everyone else. Looking back I loved this about our spectating. Why? Because maybe right after they came off that hill, around the corner, and back up a hill they needed someone to cheer for them. And come on now, Kristine forgot to take her glasses off so it's a great thing I was there.
As I said, spectators are a breed of their own. While at first I felt strange clapping and cheering strangers on. At Tough Mudder I cheered for Will and really no one else. At IRONMAN I was timidly saying "Go cyclists" and not a single person heard me on that turn. To later in the day full out clapping, yelling for strangers as I witnessed people achieving a goal that is really unthinkable. 2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 mile bike ride, and ending with running 26.2 miles. 140.6 miles total from start to finish.
Inspired really still isn't the word to use, but it's the most cliche, and yet powerful word I can come up with from my day of spectating from literal sunrise to moon-rise. As a 16-hour spectator I can say I was beyond proud and moved by all of my little racers that day. And by little racers, you know, I mean, they're all taller than me.
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| IRONMAN Kristine, myself, TOUGH MUDDER Will, and IRONMAN Matt. |
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