Galveston Ironman 70.3

Last Saturday we woke up bright and early to nice, cool weather. Tiptoeing around the house, so we wouldn't wake everyone else up, Landon and I gathered up his bag and water bottles and breakfast and everything else he needed for the race (except the bike--he had to check that in the night before) and headed down to Moody Gardens, talking and jamming out to the radio as we drove along the seawall. I think I was just as nervous for his race as I had been for mine the day before.

After getting body marked when we first walked up to the race area, (where they write your race number on your arms and your age on your calf) Landon headed into the transition area to get all of this things set up for the race. They only let racers into the transition area, so I hung out and watched him get ready from afar. :)

He's the guy in red, about halfway down Row C.

There were SO many people there! And this was definitely the biggest group of insanely athletic people that we've ever been around. It was pretty crazy. We enjoyed a minute or two just looking around at all the people as we stood in line for the port a potties. :)

And almost before we knew it, the sun had come up and it was almost time to head over to the swim start.

Landon's dad and our friend Ben showed up just time time for us to walk over to the start of the race--I'm pretty sure I had more butterflies in my stomach than Landon did at this point, haha. I think he was just ready to get it started.


Around 7am, we headed over to the the dock where the swimmers would take off. Again, there were SO many people--it was pretty cool.

Finally, after waiting around for a few minutes, Ben and I helped him put on his wetsuit, I gave his a hug and he was off!

The swimmers were all grouped by gender and age and Landon's group was near the front, in the light blue hats. They made them jump off the dock, tread water for a few minutes and then, after a 10 second countdown, they shot the gun and they were off.

It looked like a REALLY far way out they had to swim and Landon said that it felt SO far! He never really got tired, but it just seemed to take forever. Comparatively, the longest race swim we've done was only 1/4 of the distance of his race this time.

But he made it and had an awesome time a smile on his face! I was relieved when he was out of the water, haha! He's now 1/3 of an Ironman 70.3!

After running through the swim chute and getting his wesuit peeled off by the wetsuit strippers, he RAN to the transition tent, grabbed his shoes and bike and was off! Becky, Kenna and I had to run to meet up with him at the bike exit!

I am so impressed he can put his shoes on as he bikes. I tried once--I am definitely not coordinated enough to do that. :)

And he's off for a 56 mile bike ride, still looking strong and happy.

We were Team Speights--Becky, Kenna and I made his signs the night before to cheer him on!

While we were killing 3 hours, waiting to see him come back into the chute and start the run, we watched the pros. They were AWESOME.

This is Chris Lieto. He's a huge Christian, big into World Vision (you'll definitely be hearing more about his and what he's doing on this blog at a later date!) and an awesome athlete. He came in first on the bike and headed off the the run before anyone else even finished the bike!

And, he had the lead for the first 3.5 out of 4 laps. Then, in the last part of the last lap, he got overtaken by this guy (whose name I can't remember!). Landon and I were SO bummed.

Then this guy, who's name I also can't remember, came in a few seconds later for 2nd.

And a few seconds later, Chris Lieto came in. I was too busy cheering that I somehow managed to cut off his head. But man--look at those muscles. Especially his quad. Ridiculous. Impressive.

After watching the first four finishers, who were all within a minute of one another, we decided to run back over to where Landon would be finishing his bike, in case he came in earlier than we expected. And I was SO glad we did because just a minute after we got there, we saw him riding in! He did awesome!! He finished the bike in just around 3 hours, which is what he was going for, even though I didn't know that until after the race! He rode the whole thing at just over 18 miles an hour, which is pretty darn fast, especially to hold for that long, with wind and some hills. I know he was tired at the end, but he hid it well. Meeting time goals goes a long way to counteract the pain it takes to reach them, for the moment at least!

We talked to him for a minute as he was racking his bike and he was still laughing and making jokes, which is so impressive to me. I don't hide pain as well as he does, we decided. :)

And within minutes, he was off again!

I ran to meet him at the run out and give him a high five. Funny story--I said something like "good job babe!" as I was reaching out to give him a high five as he began his run and he looked at me like I was crazy and shouted "no!" and kept running. I was SO confused, but just laughed, because I had no idea what he thought I said. Later, we were talking and he thought I was putting my hand out to get him to stop and take a picture, because I had my camera in my hand and he thought I was crazy!

We both wore out Team World Vision shirts this weekend and it was cool because we ran into the TWV people who run everything and they said that we were the only ones out at the race. And it was cool because we both had a number of people comment on our shirts and say they loved World Vision or ask us what it was, which was neat because we got to spread the message and talk about WV, even though we didn't get to raise money for this event.

And, because we were the only ones there with TWV, aside from the people who work for them, we got to spend a decent amount of time talking with one of there people at the Expo and are pretty excited about some of the ideas we got to chat with her about!

Anyway, after seeing Landon off in his run w found a spot where we could see him 4 times each loop he ran (he had to run 4 loops!) his cheering squad settled in for the last 2 hours.

It was fun seeing him so much and he was doing SO good---especially since it was REALLY hot! At one point during lap 2, he looked at us and said something like "isn't this lap 8 already??". Doing a lap course makes the miles go by SLOW.

I love this man. And it's amazing that he can look this good after swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and being 10 miles into a half marathon.

Still going strong! And I was so proud of him for not walking at all, because A LOT of people did quite a bit of walking, from what we could see. I think the heat was getting to people. I know he was getting tired those last miles, but he kept plugging away.

A little encouragement from Ben as he finished up his last 2 miles!


And he's done!! I definitely got all choked up as he came across the finish line! I was (am) in awe of what he did and so, so proud! And, he finished with a smile, not looking at all like he'd just completed 70.3 miles with just his own body power!

He even posed for the camera! :)

After hugs and congrats from his fan club, we headed over to the food tent to grab him some food and let him have a seat. Again, I am so, so proud. And, I am so happy for him that it went well and he basically hit his time goals and finished saying he felt good!


Me and my Ironman 70.3! I love him!


Landon and his proud papa, looking good in their matching orange. :)

Us and Ben and Becky, our awesome friends who came out to Galveston and woke up at the crack of dawn and ran around all day to cheer Landon on!! We love you guys and are SO happy you came out with us!!

And lastly, before leaving, we took a minute to look at the times. We times him and were within a few seconds of the official time. We were proud of ourselves. But more proud of him, of course.

Landon, you are my hero. Seriously.

Cour'de'Alene, here we come!!

MARK OF THE LION WINNERS!

Thanks to a random drawing by one of my students as we sat in the room for hours after the dreaded TAKS test was complete, the winner of the Mark of the Lion series and Angie Smith's new book, I Will Carry You is....

RACHEL!!!

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Email me your address at ajaspeights@gmail.com and I will get your books in the mail to you! Happy reading!

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And to those of you that didn't play this time, or didn't win this time, another giveaway is in the works--one with a really cool prize and a way to change the lives of some kids in Africa in the process! I'm really excited to see what God will do--check back soon!

G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y T-I-M-E-!

I've always been a reader. When I was little I used to get in trouble for reading too much--for reading instead of going to bed, for reading instead of getting ready for bed, for reading instead of doing my chores.

And then, many years later, I became a middle school reading teacher. And now I teach kids how to read and try to find them books that will help them fall in love with reading as much as I did at their age.

And recently, I have found another series of books have have made me fall in love with reading all over again. Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series. Oh. My Gosh. The writing is wonderful, the story is AWESOME and it makes me want to know God more and live more fully for him. The fictional characters in the book inspire me and make me think and give insight into what life was life for Christians around the time Jesus was on Earth. I am just in love with it all around.

In fact, I am SO In love with it that I want yuo to have a copy too. Maybe it could be for you. Maybe a gift for a friend. Maybe for your husband or wife or sister or brother. I don't know. But I do know that you will LOVE this series.

So, I am giving away a brand new, still in the plastic, gift box set of the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers.

It's new and shiny and pretty. And it has a nice little box that you can keep the books in after you've read them. But the best part is the books themselves--and the fact that you can read all three in a row, instead of having to wait for the next one to come in the mail, like I did.

And, just because I feel like it, I'm also throwing in a copy of Angie Smith's new book, I Will Carry You, just because it's awesome.

It's the story of their baby, Audrey, who went to be with the Lord only a few hours after she was born. She's a wondeful writer and her story is beautiful. It made me laugh and cry and think and think about God and our relationships and interactions with him in new ways. Maybe you would want to read it, or maybe you know someone who's been through or is going through her same situation. Amazing book.

And all you have to do to enter is leave me a message telling me what your favorite book(s) is/are. I love new book recommendations!

Or, if you don't really read currently, you could tell me what your favorite book as a kid was.

Or really, you could just leave any old comment if you really don't read at all. Jsut say hi. And then if you win, next time you might be able to say that one in this series is your favorite book! :)

And, you can get entered to win one additonal time by linking to the giveaway on your blog and/or one additional time by linking to the giveaway on your facebook status.

Happy commenting! And for all those of you out there who have never commented or who I don't even know--now is your chance! I'd love to "meet" you! :)

Giveaway ends Wednesday night at midnight. Winners will be chosen at random and announced sometime Thursday morning.

My husband is an Ironman 70.3!!!

Before I hit the sack tonight, I just have to brag on Landon for a minute. :) He finished the Lonestar Galveston Ironman 70.3 today and did AWESOME. I am so proud of him I don't even know what to do with myself. I know it was a challenge and his did SO good--and had such a good spirit about the whole thing. I just love him so much.

Within the next few days we'll go through all the pictures and I'll get the whole story down, but for now I just wanted to brag on my husband for a minute and let a couple of the pictures do the talking. And give a huge shout out to my family and his family and some of our awesome friends for coming out to cheer us on! You have no idea how much that means to us!

So, check back in a few days to see the rest from my Olympic tri and his Ironman 70.3...and to enter the giveaway I have in the works. The Amazon box was in the mail when we got back it town. :)