Jeremy's race in Maryland could not have come at a more perfect time. We both desperately needed a get-away with the two of us, and a race-cation fit the bill. Jeremy has been really excited about this race. He has had an amazing season and has just been getting faster and faster. He also couldn't wait to have a race where he could race all 140.6 miles. Texas and Florida were both shortened due to weather conditions, and we were crossing our fingers that this weekend would be better. But as we pulled up to athlete check-in we started having our doubts. The water was rough, and it was windy.
We still had one more day until race days and we hoped that mother nature would calm down in time.
We had plenty of time to relax the day before the race so we found a great breakfast spot at the Bartlett Pear Inn. Jeremy feasted while I enjoyed the quaint atmosphere.
After gear drop-off we went to visit the Harriett Tubman museum for Cambrie. Blue Tooth came along for the ride too.
We still had time to drive the course. The run course was pretty with mushrooms everywhere. Cinnamon Roll, Blue Tooth and I had a little tea party on the toadstools.
Jeremy found some of the biggest ones along the course.
We had heard rumors that part of the bike course might be flooded because of the storm, but we didn't think it would be too bad. We were pulled up to the flooded part of the course we realized that this was no joke. Some of the puddles were only one-to-two inches deep, but the largest puddles stretched for 1.5 miles and was anywhere from 3-7 inches deep. It was so deep that our car started having some issues. We really didn't want to be stranded in the middle of the reserve. Luckily our car made it out, but it sounded goofy the rest of the trip. Now Jeremy was a little nervous about the bike, but we knew we would just have to be flexible.
Race morning came bright and early. Jeremy set up his transition area, put his wetsuit on, and waited with the rest of the athletes for the signal to go. When the announcement came five minutes after the race was supposed to begin that they needed to delay the start due to the water conditions, we were bummed, we knew that water wasn't going to get any better in the next 30 minutes. Sure enough, Ironman had to cancel the swim, the water was just too rough. Some of the athletes didn't take the news too well and were really disappointed. Jeremy was bummed too because he missed the 140.6 again!
Ironman changed the start to a time trial start. This meant that they would start rolling the athletes out of the bike chute based on their bib number. Because of Jeremy's All World Athlete status his bib number was 358 and he was really close to the start. I had signed up to volunteer along the bike chute and cheered him on as he took off. It took almost an hour and a half to get all the athletes on the course, but they made it. Ironman also decided to change the bike course that morning to avoid the flooded section. So while most athletes were relieved not to be riding through a lake, 100 miles is sad when they were hoping for 112.
I didn't see Jeremy again until the run. His splits weren't popping up for the bike so I had no idea how he was doing, but when he came through my aid station for the first time he was all smiles. I was on run aid station 5 which meant that I was able to see Jeremy run past me six times during the marathon. The first two or three times he was just shy of bouncing up and down with excitement because he felt so good. Dan kept sending me messages to relay to Jer, basically "SLOW DOWN! Don't cook it too much." Ultimately Jeremy did a great job holding his pace.
When he passed my aid station for the last time I had to race him to the finish line. I was surprised to see a huge puddle on Water Street that the athletes had to run back and forth through.
Jeremy didn't mind the water, but he was disappointed to learn that the finish line wasn't at the end of it. He sprinted too early and almost didn't have enough kick left when it was time to really finish.
He was definitely tired and beat, but he was so happy with his performance. Bike 4:36.34, Run 3:48.22, Final 8:29.08. Those splits are super close to a sub 10 hour full race. That's awesome!
He ended up taking 14th in his age group! Man, I am so proud of this Ironman!
Our little cheerleaders
The day after we went to the roll down ceremony to see how things would play out. There was almost no roll down at all, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We still had a couple hours to wait until it was time to head back to the airport, so we made ourselves comfortable at Sailwinds Park and listened to conference on the beach. It was beautiful and I was so glad we were able to have a weekend away.
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