Boise 1/2 Ironman

Can you believe it?  Jeremy just finished his third Ironman 70.3!  When we first started this journey we were nervous, scared, and had no idea what we were getting into.  Now it's been one short year and three races have gone by, and we feel like pros.  Okay, not really like pros, but like we have a pretty good idea of what is going on now.  We left the kids at my parents house so they could have a little grandma/grandpa time and tackled the race weekend with just the two of us.  Jeremy really wanted to have a fantastic race.  He knew the course, it was an easy course compared to St. George, and he feels a lot more comfortable racing.  We prepped everything on Friday and hoped for the best.  They moved the start time to 10:00, which was two hours earlier than last year, but still a late start for this kind of race.  We woke up early and just decided to get going with our day.  Instead of taking the shuttles up to the reservoir we drove our car and parked in a close parking lot.  I was hoping that I could access my car quickly and follow Jeremy past multiple spots along the course.  Up top we waited, and waited, and waited.  Even though I wasn't racing I had butterflies in my stomach just like it was my turn.  The race felt a lot smaller than last year and even though there was good energy it didn't fell crowded.  Finally it was time for Jeremy's wave to start.  His goal in the swim was to swim straight without a lot of wasted time zig-zagging around the buoys.  Once the gun went off I moved to a better spot where I could see him come out of the water.  From my vantage point I saw that Jeremy's goal was going to be really hard to achieve this time.  The buoys on the first section of the swim were not placed in a straight line.  They were placed like an inverted lightning bolt.  Those poor swimmers probably swam and extra 100-200 yards because of those buoys.  Jeremy came out of the water looking good and feeling like he had the best swim of his life.  I love seeing him smile during the race.  

I chased after him for a bit though transition then he was off on his bike.  

While I headed back to my car to navigate road closures and racers, Jeremy had to tackle the bike course.  What I learned later was that immediately out of transition he hit a bump and lost his first water bottle.  He was also missing a key part to his main water bottle and water kept splashing out of it.  The first aid station was 15 miles away and he was already hot and getting dehydrated.  He was also fighting a mean headwind and crosswind.  This bike course is not a pretty course, especially compared to St. George, but add the dreaded wind and it becomes downright miserable.  I saw him around mile 40 and he was still smiling and looking good.  His pace was a little slower on his bike than previous races, but he was really concentrating on saving some gas for his run.  

I didn't see him again until he was about 7 miles into his run.  According to the athlete tracker he was right on pace where he wanted to be, he even looked strong.  

But when I saw him just two miles later, I could tell he was starting to fade.  He really wanted to keep a strong and steady pace throughout the entire run and he did a lot better than in the past, but it was a battle.  While I waited at the finish line I kept watching the minutes tick by.  He was really hoping for a finish time of around 5;15.  That came and went and I just kept watching and waiting.  When we came around that last corner he looked beat.  He wasn't smiling anymore, his stride looked strained and you could tell he just wanted the pain to end.  He said that he could feel his body starting to lose fuel in the bike but it didn't really effect him until 9 miles into the run.  At that point his body just gave out.  He stopped several times those last four miles and dry heaved until other runners got him going again.  Not only was his body giving out, but mentally he couldn't handle it anymore.  He said crossing that finish line was ridiculously hard.  

Trying to cool off afterwards.

I was still proud of him.  His time was still a personal best, even it if was ugly, and he's done three of those things!  Finish time 5:31:09, Swim 42:23 (T1 2:42), Bike 2:47:30 (T2 1:29), Run 1:57:05.  Good job hun.