IMC Run and Finish

As we parked the car and hiked to the run course I saw the Third Place Lady, Heather Fuhr, go by looking strong. So we waited for Greg to come in on the bike. I saw Sister Madonna come in, Santa Clause, and the Mtn Bike guy. There were so many people, but no Greg. We checked our watches, did the math and figured it was going to be close. Greg did finish the bike but 0:02:30 past the cut off. The three of us looked at each other and collectively said “oh crap”, we watched over the fence as the people took his chip from him. I have never felt so emotionally low for another person. 2.5 mins that was all he need to make up. But there was a head wind for the last while, he said he got into the soft shoulder a few times almost crashing, he also realized he probably didn’t need to change his socks at the Special Needs Station. He was already doing the math as to where he could have made up those precious 150 seconds.

As a group we got his gear and him as far as possible from the finish area. We actually went completely around the block the long way to do so. But every 30seconds we could hear “Joe Blow from hometown Alberta you are an Ironman!” we took him to a nice Italian restaurant and our waitress had large assets. Thank goodness Jen was there to keep us in line. I had forgotten what I wanted a few times before it was my turn to order.

We sent Greg to his hotel to hopefully get a good night sleep. Mike and Jen took off to Kelowna where they were staying and I went back to the finish area. I was sitting in the bleachers wishing I had packed some jeans because that wind was blowing off the lake was Freezing!!! I saw Mark from Speed Theory pass by and chatted with him and his girlfriend (I can’t remember her name right now). It would have been cool to be his co-pilot in a support car, but I had a blast today anyway. The top three guys came out and tossed some Frisbees to the crowd and I drove back to my campsite around 11pm just in time to see probably the last 5 people on the run course. I don’t think they all made it before the midnight cut off because the last lady’s name didn’t appear in the results page the next day. I called it a night and I missed the fireworks but considering I had possibly six hours of sleep the last two nights it was a good day of supporting the sport I love.