I am going to try to put into words what Ironman 2014 was, from a mama perspective.

If you follow me on Twitter probably saw my tweets about Ironman in Coeur d Alene.

The day started around 4 a.m. The Principal and I had decided to sleep at home vs. Joey’s apartment because, well, we are old and floors don’t agree with us. We wanted to decent night of sleep.

We head to Coeur d Alene with plenty of time to stop for coffee (Thank you Jitterz for being open at 5 a.m.)
We find plenty of open parking at the NIC campus.
Off we go to find our boy.
Ya. Not sure what I was thinking being able to see him before he got in the water.
Note to self: Pre-arrange a meeting place.

This mama was super frustrated, but what could I do?
I wait.
I watch the swimmers take off. What a sight that was!

Ironman 2014 CdA Swim start

We watched the swimmers for awhile, but ultimately they all looked the same.
Standing on the beach hoping to catch a glimpse of your boy….
I meandered over to the bikes. This is where The Principal and Older Brother would be volunteering.
The Principal in the change tent, Older Brother at bikes. This worked well, as Older Brother was also available to help Ironboy’s friend’s get their bikes. (Yes, it’s allowed, we checked first, and is quite common)

I choose a spot to watch for Ironboy at the start of the bike portion, all the while watching the app for when he is out of the water. Swim time was 80 minutes for 2.4 miles.

He’s out of the water! This was my first relief. I don’t know why it was so concerned, maybe it was the fact that over 1000 people would be swimming at once?

I have my phone ready to video him going by on the bike….I was so excited to see him that I put my hand in the air and videoed the tree above me.

Team Yager

At this point there was going to be a huge gap where we wouldn’t see him (or so I thought) becuase of the bike route, so I went to the car for a quick snooze. I later found out The Principal saw him twice on the bike.

I reported to my volunteer spot at 11:30. The ladies change tent/transition from bike to run. The Principal was on the guys side and Little Sister was with me. Being in transition was a great idea, but it also was a long, 6 hour shift. It helped pass the time, but also wore me out mentally.

One lady needed socks. I ‘happened’ to have a brand new pair in my backpack. I am a prepper after all and it came in handy. She cried when I gave them to her.
One gentleman had to borrow shoes for the run because his transition bag had been misplaced. I heard he did finish!

The headwinds were brutal. Many a competitor said they didn’t care if they ever saw their bike again. The said the winds in Kona, which is known for wind, were less than these guys were dealing with.

Ironboy was on his bike 2 hours longer than expected. The winds didn’t help and neither did his consumption of Gu gels and the like. His stomach rebelled.
Also, during this time the app had stopped updating their locations. So I was on pins and needles wondering where he might be or if he was DQ’d due to time cutoffs.

Joey transition Photo credit Little Sister

I got to hug his neck on the way to the run and I was mentally a lot better after this. I was also using a lot of Balance oil blend.

I chose the marathon turn around to watch for him. After 30 minutes of standing there we walked up a ways to around mile 12.75. Coffee! Calypso’s was open!
Another plus was, from this spot, we saw him on his way to the turn around and then again on the way back.
turnouround
My open arms ready to hug him Photo credit Little Sister

love him

This was tough. On his way down I cheered and yelled just like the good Soccer Mom that I am. It ws hard, as a mom, to see him hurting and down.
He stopped on hugged me on his way back by. I looked him in the eyes, holding his face….”I love you! You’ve GOT THIS! You can do it!”
Off he went and I kneeled down and cried. I was tired mentally and emotionally.
I rallied and off we went to see him on at another spot. We missed him.

This is where The Principal made me fall in love all over again.
We are The Couple. The one that does everything together.
He chose to stay at mile 25ish to run Ironboy in as far as he could.
I could have stayed with him, but I wanted to be at the finish line.

So we parted ways.
Minutes turned in to hours. The anticipated finish time came and went.
The app was not updating.
Phones were losing battery life and the sun was about down so the nifty solar charger was useless.
We had FRS radios, but the range was too far.

I was spent.
Then, as I sat and prayed for Ironboy to be safe. To be okay. To finish, I rallied again. I also applied more Balance.
The Prinicpal and Ironboy’s buddy went out to mile 23 looking for him.
Ultimately Older Brother, in the dark of the night, was even further out, just yelling Ironboy’s name….
Finally! Mile 21 I believe it was, they connected.
Ironboy, Older Brother, and Younger Sister ran for awhile, together.
Then Ironboy’s Church Peeps ran with him until they weren’t allowed to.

All the while I am in the bleachers watching. Waiting.

THERE HE IS!
There’s my BOY!

He passed me in the bleachers and I was so relieved, I broke down, totally missing him cross the finish line.

You can see his finish here. Fast forward to 1:58:12 He’s the one who practically dances his way down, decked out in neon.

I am the mom of an Ironman!

dad and son
Proud Irondad! I am framing this one.


9:37 to 9:52 you can see blips of my boy. In the neon yellow/green basically having a party for 1.

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