Landon will soon have a race report from the day, which I'm sure will be much more exciting than his race day from my perspective, but for now that's what we've got. :)
Our day began bright and early as we got ready and headed out to the race site around 445am.
Once we got there, Wes dropped us off at T1 for Landon to get the last few things done, like putting his food and water bottles on the bike and pumping up his tired. We were determined to not get separated at transition this year, since last year we did and I had the things he needed. Super stressful.
This year was a lot calmer though and everything went smoothly, thank goodness.
The only weird thing was that they made them wait in lines to drop off their bags, which was nice in one way because it was all very organized, but we weren't expecting to have to spend time doing that. Luckily, we got there in plenty of time so it wasn't an issue, but as we were leaving people were running up and seeing the long line and were not too happy about it.
Then, we headed to the swim start, where he got body marked by people dressed in 70's costumes, dancing to 70's music. They were trying to make it fun I guess! :)
And, we were just happy because we were there at the swim start with plenty of time to spare and nothing chaotic going on!
We found some bathrooms and then went to check out the water, since the race turned out to not be wetsuit legal and Landon decided he was going to do the swim without it.
We still had some time before he needed to get in the water, so we found a little picnic table near the water and hung out there, as we waited for my parents, brother and future sister in law and friend, Ben, to show up.
Then, just as they were all showing up, it was time for him to line up and head out into the water. I hate this part of the day because it's like at that point everything is out of my control (like anything is ever within my control really, but at least when he's with me it feel less out of control) and I know I won't really see him again until that evening. It's just a weird feeling.
Anyway, after a hug and a good by and a promise to pray for him, he headed off into the mass of people in green and purple swim caps and that was the last we saw of him for the next little while.
At 650am, shortly after he left us, they started the pros--it's crazy how fast they are!
Then, there were 10 minutes of waiting until everyone else was started. Landon swam out to the far left side and hung out there until the gun went off. I knew that's about where he was going to be but there was no way we could pick him out.
And then, at exactly 7:00am, 2210 people started swimming like crazy. Though it was a totally different start than CDA because everyone started already in the water, it was equally amazing to watch.
It's just insane to see that many people all start swimming at once.
And, one thing that was cooler at this race than last year's, from a spectator's point of view, is that the competitors swam right past us, so we were able to actually see the people up close as they were swimming.
Crazy to think that Landon's in there somewhere!
Once we saw pretty much everyone swim past us, Team Landon headed over to the canal, where we were hoping to spot Landon when he was about 2/3 of the way through the swim and walk with him to the swim finish.
We were hoping that between all of us, we'd be able to spot him! I was a little worried though, because it was a lot more congested with people all through the swim than I thought it would be at that point in the race.
We just looked for everyone that fit his basic description (male, no wetsuit, black goggles etc) and then narrowed it down from there.
And, our plan worked because pretty soon, we spotted him! Actually--he spotted us at about the same time we spotted him, which was pretty funny. I think the matching white shirts made us stand out!
He's right in the middle--number 873.
This guy made us laugh. This is why these races are so much fun.
Almost there--the swim finish is in sight!
During the swim, some girl swam up on him and ripped his timing chip off---and took a few chunks of his skin off too! I couldn't believe it. And, what was even more unbelievable was that when he got out of the swim, there was no where for him to get another timing chip, like they said there would be!
After we saw him run in from the swim at 1 hour and 21 minutes, we all ran to the bike area to wait for him.
We spotted his bike and then watched everyone that came by, looking for someone in an orange World Vision jersey.
Finally we spotted him and then he was off again!
Then, pretty much as soon as we passed up in the bike out, we ran out to the car and headed out to meet him around mile 30. We were afraid that we would miss him if we waited too long! And, it ended up being good that we rushed over there because he got to mile 30 at about the earliest point that we were really looking for him. When he flew by though I didn't even get a good picture because he was mad and telling us something and I was trying to figure out what he was saying. This is when we found out that he had lost his timing chip, which sucks. He had tried to tell us at the bike out when we saw him but none of us knew what he was saying, which I felt really bad about! But, at this point we began trying to figure out what to do to get him a new timing chip, which was SO frustrating because no one could really tell us and everyone said something different.
We stuck around mile 30 for a little while, cheering people on and watching the little kids at the aid station trying (pretty unsuccessfully!) to hand people on their bikes drinks and food. It was pretty funny to watch, but I felt bad for the bikers.
Then, once we figured out that we couldn't do anything about his timing chip until we got back to transition, we decided to head back to the lake house for lunch before going back out to watch him finish his bike.
We ate lunch, relaxed for a few minutes and made him some signs for the run. It was nice to have the house to be at for a little while, but we were antsy to get back out there to be sure we didn't miss him coming in!
When we got back to transition, we still couldn't get a straight answer about his timing chip and eventually we were told that they don't give out timing chips mid race, which was so infuriating because at the athlete meeting on Thursday night they specifically said that you could get a new one after the swim if you needed one.
After dealing with that, we camped out right by the bike in and began looking for Landon around 315pm, which is when he would be coming in if he was doing 20 mph, which is pretty fast. But, we hadn't been watching very long at all when we saw his orange jersey coming down the road! I was so proud of him--he did the bike at 19 mph--about 45 minutes faster than in CDA. It was awesome. And, it was a nice surprise for the riders because the crazy winds they were expecting on the back half of the bike didn't show up.
I felt so bad again though because he was asking about his timing chip again as he came in and we had to say that they wouldn't give him one. Well, now that just made him even madder and eventually, he got someone to give him one during T2. But, it shouldn't have been like that and shouldn't have taken that much of his time during the race to get it.
Anyway, he finally emerged from the change tent, with a new timing chip (which we didn't know!), got all sunscreened up and ran past his cheering section! It was hard to believe that he was already on the run--and after the race he even said that the race flew by for him this year!
I tried to say hi to him, but he didn't even see me, ha!
He did, however, hear everyone's yells when he turned the corner, which was fun!
Our awesome friends, who came out to cheer him on during the bike and run, braving the heat and humidity!
After we saw him off on the run, we found a shady spot to set up camp, where we could see him at mile 8 an 9, 16 and 17 and then head over to the finish to wait for him to come across. It wasn't where we had said we were going to meet him though, because I spaced and forgot the map so we weren't where he was looking for him, but it ended up working out alright.
While we were waiting, we took turns going and getting snacks/drinks at HEB and getting out of the sun a little. In the morning, during the swim and bike, it was warm but definitely not hot. Right when he finished the bike though, the sun came out and it was in the 90's for his run. It was hard to imagine him out there having to run a marathon in the heat because we were hot just sitting there!
He said the first few miles were absolutely miserable, but after that he kinda got into a rhythm. We saw him at mile 8 and then again at mile 9 and he looked tired and HOT, but definitely not as bad off as some other people we were seeing pass us by.
Then, after seeing him and cheering him on those 2 times we settled in to wait for him to come by on his next lap and I just said a little prayer that he was doing ok. He was able to smile and wave at us so I knew he was alright, but we've run on 90 degree days without having swam an biked first and it is draining.
At mile 16 he was looking tired and hot still, but doing ok. I handed the camera off to his brother and went out and walked with him for a minute to try and encourage him and make sure he was ok!
Then, we saw him at mile 17 one more time before heading over to wait for him at the finish line.
Hopefully he could feel the love! :)
I know he was just faking it and smiling for the camera, but doesn't he look amazing here? He's already swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and run 17 miles in the Houston heat--and still can pull this off.
After seeing Landon at mile 9, Michael and Ashlee headed over to the finish line to stake out spots for us to watch him finish. I felt so bad though because I just assumed it would be like Coeur d'Alene and there would be bleachers to sit on. Unfortunately, there really wasn't and they ended up having to stand for hours--and we'd already been standing a lot that day! But, they were awesome and got us great spots right by the finish line.
Within and hour of him finishing, everyone met up with us at the finish line and we kept checking out watch, knowing he'd probably be finishing around twelve and a half hours.
Isn't our niece pretty much the most precious girl ever.? I love her. And I love her sweet signs.
Here she was telling my mom all about how much she loves my brother. It was pretty cute. :)
And then, it was time to really begin watching for him. We crowded around the gate and again, began watching for his orange shirt. And, right around twelve and a half hours, here he comes, running down the finisher chute! It was a shorted chute this time so we didn't see him from as far off. When he turned the corner though we all started screaming and I began videoing and Logan was taking pictures. I was SO happy to see him and SO happy that he looked so good and SO proud of his time! He was over 30 minutes faster than last time! And, as he ran past me he stopped and and gave me a kiss and said happy anniversary. Seriously, I don't think I could love anyone more than him.
After we watched him run though the finish line and they announced that he was an Ironman, I headed down to make sure that they got him time (since I didn't know that he had gotten a new chip) and then to see him. Sorry to our friends and family that I left with all of our bags--I lost my mind for a minute I think and just wanted to make sure he was good and that the officials got his time down! Thank you guys for being so sweet and gathering up my things for us!
When I caught up to him his dad was already there talking to him about everything so I just gave him a hug and told him how proud of him I was. Then, pretty soon everyone else go there too.
His biggest, littlest fan jumped up to give him a hug.
And, we decided we all needed a picture at the finish line before heading to dinner!
Me and my awesome husband. And I promise he's not about to dump the salsa on me--we just caught him in the middle of eating his burrito!
After we took care of all his business at the finish line, we walked over to the other side of the town center and got some yummy food at Berryhill. Landon didn't eat much because your stomach is all kinda of weird after a race like that, but the rest of us enjoyed our meal and the time to sit and talk.
Then, once Abagael started falling asleep while eating her ice cream, we decided it was probably time to head home!
Team Landon. Seriously, we have the best friends and family in the world. It meant so much to both us of to have all of them out there cheering him on. It made the day just that much more special.
And, around 930pm, we all said out good byes and headed home. Landon and I had tossed around the idea of going back out to see the last people finish, but at that point midnight seemed really far away and like a really long time to wait, so we decided to just pick up his bike and bags and head home.
All in all, it was a good day and he had a great race. For how awful the weather could have been in Houston, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, it didn't rain, he did great with his time and it worked out almost perfectly to have everyone out there when they were out there. God is so good and I went to bed that night thanking him for keeping Landon safe.
We slept in (at least compared to 4am!) the next day and then just spent the morning at the house, relaxing a little and then packing up and cleaning. Landon was tired and had some blisters etc, but wasn't sore and was feeling good, which we were so thankful for.
I love you babe and I am so proud to be out there cheering you on!
We found some bathrooms and then went to check out the water, since the race turned out to not be wetsuit legal and Landon decided he was going to do the swim without it.
