Douglas Landon Speights, from Houston, Texas...

you are an IRONMAN!

He finished strong, in the daylight, with an awesome time. I cried when I saw him coming down the chute. I was so happy for him and so, so proud. If you want to see the video of him crossing with finish line it's linked on my Facebook page and his.

He's promised me that he'll write out his Ironman story on the plane tomorrow, but for now here's the Coeur d'Alene Ironman 2010 in pictures from my vantage point.

We got there at about 530am, for Landon to get body marked, check on his bike (which we had to check in the day before) and get all of his swim gear on. We actually got separated at one point, which was SUPER stressful because I had a lot of his swim stuff and I was going to help him with his wetsuit etc. Lesson learned for next time.

The swim start was CRAZY to watch. It was described as feeling like you were in a giant washing maching--Landon got kicked, hit, punched. Imagine swimming in freezing cold, choppy water with 2200 of your closest friends all swimming right up next to you. Ironmen are some tough men and women.

He did awesome on the swim--he finished about 15 minutes faster than he planned on and was out of the water looking good! We were yelling like crazy trying to get his attention from up on the hill where we were watching and he actually heard us, which was cool.

Then, we ran to meet him at his bike. T1--time to bike 112 miles in the mountains of Idaho.

Landon's parents and I walked miles and miles all over the course, catching him at all the places we could! Along the way we saw the signs we made for him--and since they were stuck all the way on the back row, we moved them to the front where he'd be sure to see them! It worked!

It was a GORGEOUS part of the country.

Mile 60--start of the second lap and looking strong. I loved seeing him along the course--it both made me happy just to be able to say hi to him and cheer him on and reassured me that he was ok!

Mile 70--still feeling good and making me laugh :)

About a mile from the end of the bike. That had to be a good feeling!

Turning in to the bike in chute--now, only a marathon left. Oh, and did I mention he had a great bike time--6 hours and 23 minutes!

the ladies getting him all sunscreened up before heading out to the run

waiting with out signs for him to come by...about 2 miles in to the run

Go Landon!

Around mile 12 or so, finishing the first lap of the marathon--he was still in good spirits--he told me he was going to beat my half marathon PR time, but luckily I think I barely held on to it! Crazy. I need to pick up my pace, haha!

10 miles left to go! I walked and talked with him a little with him and handed off his Ironman visor to him so that he could wear it across the finish line! And then, we didn't see him again until he crossed the finish line, which was one of the coolest moments I've ever experienced (and I wasn't even doing the race). I can only imagine what it must have felt like for him--he's said that aside from our marriage day, it was probably the most awesome moment in his adult life. Imagine swimming, biking and running for over 13 hours and then running the last quarter miles down the chute to the finish line and having people on both sides of you, packed in, all the way down, yelling your name and cheering you on. It seriously was awesome.

one last turn and then he's headed into the finish chute, hearing the announcer say "Landon Speights, you are an Ironman!!"
He came across all by himself, without other racers around him, which a huge smile on his face and probably tears in his eyes. He high-fived me and smiled at us and then crossed the finish line with a jump. I'm going to be mad if the photographer didn't catch it!

my husband is an Ironman!

I love him.

his cheering squad

proud parents :)

Team Speights

And, it's done. The last finishers came through about 2 minutes before midnight. We went and got some dinner after Landon finished and then came back and watched the last hour and a half of people finishing. SO inspiring. Kind of, almost as inspiring as watching my husband come across the finish line. But for me, that one takes the cake.