Start early and end late – that is the day watching this epic awesome race!
This is my third time watching Ironman Hawaii and Sara first time.
Watching this race is a serious workout so if you are going to watch the big show bring your A-Game!
We drove down with John Appledorn’s family and walked to special needs drop-off and body marking area. It was still dark (about 5:20AM) so there was a glow coming out of the tents as the athletes shuffled from station to station.
Getting body marked by a stranger in the pre-dawn light may seem like a strange thing but it is the first step in the Ironman triathlon and here is John getting it done….
We watched the swim start on a sea wall jutting out into the bay. We stood on the wall in our bare feet because every couple of minutes the waves would crash on the rocks and splash up to join us on the wall.
The swim start was awesome to watch. Many of the athletes were reluctant to swim out the starting line too early.. you can see them here crouding into DigMe beach just barely in the water…
Once the time got closer and closer to the cannon going off the water became littered with the 1900+ athletes that would compete in this years race… it was impossible to see our friends: Larry D, John A, Sally C, Jeff R, Etc..
After the swim start we ran up Alii and Palani to the “Hot Corner” where the athletes come by on their bikes three times before heading out for the long ride on the Queen K. We found the best place to watch for athletes was on the climb up Palani to the Queen K when they slowed down…
Jeff Climbing… I mean stopping to say hi 😉
Larry climbing…
We volunteered on the pier for the bike transition to help direct athletes to the changing tents.
The athletes entered the transition area after dismounting their bikes and the had to jog/run/walk around the bike racking area to the transition bag pickup and changing tent area.
We volunteered together and had some fun before the first pro’s came in to start their run…
After volunteering we headed out on the run course to look for our friends. First we saw Larry and Jeff R running together, man did they look good…
Larry & Rhodes Running
Next it was John A who was looking strong doing the walk/run thing and keeping a good pace doing it..
We also saw Sally C running, and she said she was having some back issues but we know how tough she is and knew she would make it through the run..
It was a great race day and by the time late night hit we were done. It is funny that we actually had a conversation about which is harder watching the race or doing the race…You decide!
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