Race Weekend.

The kids and the babysitter and I drove to Michigan Friday for my half ironman race.  Andrew drove over after work Friday. We found a playground a beach after spending an hour or so in the pool. It was fun and the kids loved it. We took the babysitter for a lot of reasons and it ended up being the best decision we've made in a long time.  She was extremely helpful and the kids love playing with her. 

Miss M running to the water while Cate rides on K's back so they could feel the water and find out if it was cold.

Cate hadn't taken a nap all day Friday and she was a DISASTER by dinner. It was the worst I have ever seen her.  We tried phones, we tried snacks, we tried juice, we tried taking her outside. She was scary.  K calmed her down for a little while by giving her a ponytail on the top of her head.

We went back to the beach Saturday afternoon.  The kids flew kites that I happened to have had in my car.

I received a lot of texts/phone calls/messages of support and encouragement.  My favorite pictures were from my biggest non-family fans.  The message said to draw in images of the kids when things get tough.  Things got tough.  I imaged these little rascals cheering me on from Indiana.  And my heart was filled with happiness and my legs kept moving.

Post race. I couldn't hardly walk without wanting to die.  K took care of the kids and got us to the car and drove us home.

We had to stop and get gas before driving home. I made K drive b/c Andrew had to drive to Iowa in his own car and I was afraid I wouldn't make it.  She bought me a requested Coke and when I looked at the bottle and saw "we are the champions" it made me smile.  How fitting for a day when every athlete who raced is a champion.

She finally fell asleep. She refuses to sleep in the car.

The following are race day pictures which Andrew took. I haven't received access the downloaded pictures yet as they are residing on Andrew's computer.

The water on race day was too warm to wear wetsuits and qualify for age group placements. I wasn't really worried about placing in anything.  I was also worried about drowning without a wetsuit. I decided to wear the wetsuit to ensure I made it out alive.  I did make it out alive but I was so happy after entering the water that I had it on.  We were the last wave to enter the water and it was an extremely large wave since so many other people wanted to ensure they didn't drown.  I panicked in the beginning. I had to do the backstroke and breast stroke to regain my composure and find a place where I wasn't going to be attacked by other's arms/legs. Once I found my groove the time went by pretty quickly.

My cheering squad at the last 1/2 mile of the run.  I was still in pretty good spirits.  I adjusted my goals/expectations during the run b/c it was brutal. I was so hot and so hungry.  I decided to walk through all the fueling stations which were every mile! I drank a lot and ate a little which I would normally never do.  I wouldn't have made it without the stops and food/drinks.  There was no shade and by the time I started the run it was probably around noon. The heat was radiating off the pavement and burning everyone up. 

Look at those naked beach babies.  I couldn't have finished the race without the support of all my family and friends on race day and the ten months leading up to the race.

The local running group had left a sign in our yard to find upon our arrival home. It was a nice welcome home.  We had a family friend and her daughter drive to Michigan to watch the race. They drove Miss M home from MI which was helpful to have one less person to take care of/listen to on the way home. It was also really awesome that they had planned on cooking dinner for the kids and I after we got home. I was barely functioning and honestly not sure I could have fed the kids or myself.

I'm taking a break from double workouts five days a week.  It took me three weeks to mentally/emotionally/physically recover from the race! I'm looking at a few races next summer and can't wait to start training again, in say, January!