My Jubilant American Summer, Part Three

Greeting her family with

"Cheer Kits,"

my youngest daughter

prepared her family

for her Ironman Race

with bananas, water,

race programs,

race ETAs and suggested sites

to best see her compete.

"Mom, I don't care if you skip my MBA graduation, but I want you to be home for my IRONMAN race." So said, my youngest daughter, an avid marathoner.

I appreciated my child stating it so bluntly. There was nowhere else I could be, but right by her side when she asked like that. The highlight of my jubilant American summer was when our family gathered to cheer my youngest on in her Ironman Wisconsin race.

Ironman Wisconsin

was on September 7th, 2014

in Madison, Wisconsin.

Participants were to swim

2.4 miles (3.86 km),

bike 112 miles (180.25 km),

and finish with a 26.2 mile

(42.22 km) marathon

and finish within 17 hours.

My family gathered

on the roof of the

Monona Terrace

Convention Center,

designed by Frank Lloyd Wright,

to watch the race begin.

Sunrise on Lake Monona

Volunteers wait in the water

for the race to begin.

Green swim caps for men,

pink swim caps for women.

Here's what the start of the swim

looked like from the parking lot helix

that the runners would later run up

(five or six floors)

to get their bikes.

Video courtesy of crushingiron.com

It was awe-inspiring to me -

2,500 swimmers

all taking off at once.

It was glorious to watch.

I was really grateful

for all those years of 

middle and high school

swim practices,

knowing my child

would be swimming

for an hour-and-a-half.

Fired up and ready to go!

After the swim,

Kelly ran up the helix

knowing her

most challenging part

of the race

was next.

Kelly's older sister

and brother-in-law

were also ready

to cheer her on

in our

cheer crew tshirts.

That's Kelly in the red,

getting her bike.

The biking portion

was the one where she had the

least experience.

She was bringing

some bicycling experience,

the rest was hope.

"Watermelon Fury,"

was to be her companion

for the next eight hours.

I worried Kelly

was expending

her energy on

cheering everyone on.

Every time I saw her

she was cheering!

No worries, on her part.

"Bring it on!"

she seemed to shout.

Eight hours on the bike

is a long time.

We, as cheer crew,

did move from site to site

to cheer her on,

but we also had time

to go see

where my

oldest daughter worked

in downtown Madison.

That was fun.

Here's some video

of the bike course.

The sounds of the Ironman

are fantastic.

I love those ringing cowbells!

I knew if Kelly could make it

through the bike portion

it was all downhill

from there.

She was an experienced

marathoner and had run

at least one 50-mile race.

Making ourselves

easy to find:

Above is my sister,

my oldest daughter

and my Mom.

During the race,

there was lots of time

to interact with

other folks who

had come to cheer on

their competitor.

I loved watching this family.

What's not to love

about a teenage boy

cheering on his Mother?

This family's cheer shirts read

"I trained six months

to wear this T-shirt."

Kelly says: "Ironman Wisconsin was one of the most fun days of my life! Starting with the swim - bobbing up and down in Lake Monona while watching the thousands of spectators in the sunrise on the terrace. The bike was my hardest leg of the race, but that's because I biked 42 miles further than I ever have in my life! My bike broke at mile 70 and I managed to fix it all on my own, which kept me positive enough to make it to mile 112! The run was just a total blast - seeing everyone around Madison! Thanks so much if you came out!"

By nightfall,
I would have been exhausted.

I was amazed to watch

my daughter stop her race

at mile 19

and do push-ups

with another runner.

High fiving

and leading cheers!

No stopping her now.

Goal met!

Another sound

from the Ironman

that will stay with me

is the voice of

Ironman Wisconsin

announcer,

Mike Reilly.

He's there all day long

from sunrise to midnight.

When he pronounces a runner

an Ironman

as they cross the finish line,

the way he says it

brings a lump to the throat.

He communicates all of the

hopes, dreams, goal-setting,

training, endurance, stamina,

and results:

"Kelly,

You are an Ironman!"

What a wonderful family memory.

A couple months after the race, my daughter received this email from a fellow participant:

"I wanted to tell you (and my husband encouraged me to be brave and do this) how GREAT it was to cross paths with you on the last half of the marathon at Ironman Wisconsin. Your energy propelled me along. At about the EXACT time I was thinking, 'You know, I could just walk this out...," you came up and were like, "JENNY! I'm going to run with you a while!!" And then I thought, "Well, crap. I can't walk now!!" Everything about you had this great exclamation point after it. I was in awe of your spirit and energy....I hope you had a fantastic race and that life is treating you well. Thanks again for all the positive energy you brought to the race. I think people sometimes wonder if something like that matters because it doesn't seem to make obvious differences or whatever, but I think it makes worlds of difference. I saw tons of people perk up all around you even if they didn't verbalize it. Who knows who was able to finish simply because of your energetic encouragement?? So! You take care of yourself. And stay positive.

Here's a review of the Wisconsin Ironman course, with great views of the helix where swimmers transition from swimming to biking. The Wisconsin Ironman gets more spectators than any other Ironman, even the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. An estimated 75,000 people turn out.

Here are a few other posts on Madison and Wisconsin:

The book that made me crazy with homesickness for America

Enjoying Neil DeGrasse Tyson at the UW Senior Sendoff on the Union Terrace

The Marvelousness of Madison

Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook - why not follow me there?
Missed my earlier posts? They're below:

My Jubilant American Summer, Part One

My Jubilant American Summer, Part Two