Ironman Texas

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't get nearly the number of pics that I wanted to this weekend nor even close to what I normally get. Getting pics with kids is hard and especially so with a baby. So most of these pics are uh, borrowed. Grandma & Grandpa came into to watch Dad's first Ironman. We packed up on a Friday and headed to The Woodlands where we would spend the next 3 days. We walked around a bit on Friday enjoying an early dinner and calling it a night early. Saturday morning came quick and early and we packed up the kids and headed down to the swim.

Unfortunately the girls & I didn't quite make it down early enough to see Dad off but our friend Jason did and snapped a pic for us.

And another friend of Scott's got this pic of Dad with Toby.

After the swim start we headed over to the swim in to hopefully catch a view of Dad which we thankfully did.

The girls waited as patiently as they could: 

We finally got a glance & while you can't tell in the picture he even heard us yelling for him.

A friends of his caught this picture while he biked out which I love!

While he was off on the bike we had a lot of time to kill. We found a Starbucks and a large grassy area where we hung out. Luckily the Stanard's came to hang out with us which really helped pass the time for the kids. Before this race Reagan and I had been talking about getting her ears pierced. I'd done a it of research and the place where I had decided to get them done, Sweet and Sassy, actually had a store right there where the race was. She decided she wanted to get it done. I have to be honest, I didn't think she would go through with it. Crissy & I took the kids over to Sweet and Sassy. The staff there was amazing. They told Reagan exactly what they were going to do step by step and even let her hold the instruments. I was very impressed and would highly recommend them.

Reagan was very brave and did an awesome job. She cried for just about a minute and that was it! At that point everyone headed over to grab lunch and I ran back to the hotel to quickly feed Quinn before joining everyone for lunch. We hung out in the a/c for a bit before heading over to bike in to wait for Dad.

Sarah & Reagan waiting.

After we saw Dad come back in from the bike we headed back over to the hotel and cooled off for a bit. I know we live in Houston and I've lived here almost all of my life but it was the first really hot day this year and you could really tell. Luckily we had picked the best hotel possible for this race. The hotel was right on the run course and we actually saw Dad pass by on the opposite side of the waterway so we knew to head down.

So the girls and I have been to plenty of races. We cheer very loudly and usually Dad is in such a zone that he doesn't hear us. Every once in awhile he does and will slightly acknowledge us. I mention this because when we headed down to the Cy Tri tent to wait for him something happened that I never woudl have imagined. He stopped.

Seriously, he stopped. He stopped and kissed each of his girls. I won't lie, it brought a tear to my eye. This is the biggest race of this life and he took a moment out for them. It made them SO happy and it made me very proud.

After that he kept on running:

We headed over to the finish line thinking we had a lot of time to spare. However we had a big surprise with a quick finish. I almost missed it because I wasn't paying attention. It was a very awesome and fitting finish.

And just like that Dad became an Ironman.

I am so thankful for our friends and family that day. I certainly couldn't have sanely done it without them. It was awesome having Grandma & Grandpa there, the Stanard's spent partially the whole day with us, Jason came out early for the swim start and then came back later for the bike through the finish and Jess & Joe came out to cheer as well. I'm also very thankful for Dad's tri friends who would check on me throughout the race and give me advice and when to be where. All day long I received texts, emails & FB messages from our friends and I chatted with Dad's coach Kelly throughout the day. We're surrounded by some pretty awesome people.

Now if you want a true race report you can read Scott's report here:

http://www.sonicendurance.com/node/71