I cannot say enough about how wonderful the support from family and friends was. 

Undoubtedly, Elisabeth has been stuck with providing the most support.  Obviously, this wasn’t just on race day but throughout the year as I trained for the race.  Some training days were as many as 8 or 9 hours.  Time was not just in training but researching/purchasing equipment, reading and learning, logging my training, and an endless myriad of other time consuming items.  Elisabeth even put together a document of information on various topics relating to the Ironman.  Thanks so much Sweetie!

Several weeks before the race I asked Bryan McLelland to help coordinate where people should be when.  Towards this effort, I printed out the bike and run maps and combined these with my locator spreadsheet, which the two of us reviewed a couple weeks before.  Thanks Bryan!!! The day before the race, my mom, dad, and brother came down with me and I pointed out to them where I was going to be passing through the transition area.  (This not only communicated to them what I would be doing, but it also helped solidify it in my mind.)   Note: Give map of transition and finish area to family and friends and walk it through with them. 

On race morning, Bryan drove me down to the race and helped with dropping off special needs bags and other miscellaneous items.  This was a huge help in reducing stress.  He also took pictures and adopted Elisabeth, Benjamin, and Hanna when they arrived at the race.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see them before heading to the beach.

Thanks to Elisabeth and Neely, each of my kids had handmade shirts and they were awesome!  My kids were very excited about having them (they still wear them after the race), and I was proud of them too. 

If that wasn’t enough, Elisabeth made me a shirt for the run as shown below.  Wow!!!  Everyone I saw in the run seemed to have one of those fancy tri-shirts.  Really, it was rare I didn’t see one.  Even when it wasn’t a tri-shirt, there were no other shirts I noticed that were “homemade.”  I got tons of comments both from other runners and from the spectators.  I love the shirt and it made me feel loved and cared for.  Next time I want to find a white bike shirt so that I can have something similar for the bike.  Also, it was mentioned that I needed something distinguishable on my helmet.  Consider painting it perhaps?

By the way, use your first name on your run number and your last name on your bike number (use only your first name if you are not switching numbers).  Few people besides other bikers will ever read the name when you are biking and, assuming you want your name called, first names are easier to read.

I didn’t see Elisabeth and the kids before starting the swim but after the first lap they were behind the timing pad area and I saw their bright green sign. 

This became a hallmark of what to look for and from then on I saw them whenever I passed.

I saw Todd and his children as I went out and back toward Spokane River, and Krista, Kate and Addy came back with Bryan and stayed the rest of the day.  Each person was a great encouragement.  Another person I saw was Tom Heavey as I headed out to Hayden for a bike leg.  John and Greta Underhill came out for the run.  That was much appreciated too.  Ruth, Bradley and Aiden made the trek out from Seattle as well!

My mom looked after Abigail for much of the day.  As mentioned before, Andy, Neely, and my dad followed me around on both the bike and the run course.  Andy did the same for Eric for his last 6 miles or so.  This was a huge support and encouragement.  The fact that Andy and Neely came out for just the weekend to support me in spite of the expense and having to take a day off of work was a significant sacrifice.  Thanks guys!  If nothing else, I hope it inspires Andy to do a race like this with me in the future.

Lastly thanks to folks at Itron. Val Kuntz, Diane Davis helped as peelers and again were out at the Itron/YMCA aid station (around miles 6 and 9 on the run) volunteering and cheering.  They joined Fran Johnson on Sherman Ave., where they took some of the photos as I ran down Sherman Ave. to the finish line.  Thanks for all the support and encouragement from each of you – especially in the months leading up to the race both via numerous cubical chats and training runs.  Also, thanks to Andy Anderson for his sharing his experience doing the race last year.  A huge thanks to Mike Eldred (and his wife, Chris, for suggesting it) for the use of your bike both during the race and the three months prior.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!

Even my neighbors were a great support.  Elisabeth followed them down to the race in the morning.  After they returned home, they followed me around online and via text messages to my brother.  When I got home they had decorated the garage with the sign below.  Thanks, neighbors!!

Sunday, July 06, 2008 12:13:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  Headlines | Personal | My Sports