Windy Possibilities: Iron Star

Drew and Anna took me to a really good sushi place on Saturday night and I stayed at their house. Thanks guys!

Ingrid did the Iron Star half Iron triathlon this weekend. We all went out to watch her race and cheer for her. Ingrid worked just as hard (maybe harder) for this race as the rest of us worked for Longhorn, so we were all super excited for her! She did such an awesome job cheering for me and helping me keep going at Longhorn that I really wanted to do everything I could to help her through the tough parts of Iron Star.

Kim, Ingrid's mom, Ramona, and Ingrid before the start. It was really cold, in the 40's at the start!

I was in a kayak with Nilda for the swim. It was really pretty with all the steam coming off the lake. I was really excited when Nilda asked if I wanted to kayak with her for the race. I thought that would be the perfect place to see Ingrid swim and really be able to help her if she had a tough swim.

Steph kayaking into the sunrise. Chris, Nilda, Ross, Steph, and I were all in kayaks for the swim. I'm not sure it was a coincidence that Ingrid knew all the kayakers!

Ingrid's swim wave starting. Dave Rainey announced at the start and he kept talking about Ingrid. Told her to draft off people, told her to go to the front, etc, etc. He must have said her name at least 6 times. Later in the day, random people were asking us about her (we had signs with her name).

Nilda and I in her kayak

Ross got this picture of someone swimming, it's really hard to get good pictures of people swimming. That's Nilda and I in the background

Ross in the kayak

Chris in the kayak

It took us a little while to get out of the water after the swim, while we were waiting for the last couple of swimmers, Dave Rainey came over to the shore and told me "Ingrid looked great coming out of the water, she was even smiling" I was SO happy! I know she looked good when I saw her swimming, and I know she trained like crazy for this swim, but I was still a little worried about her.

Steph in the kayak

Ingrid finishing the bike! She's awesome on the bike.

I had planned to run about 8 miles while Ingrid was biking, but by the time we set up the HRTC tent, I was afraid I wouldn't finish my run by the time Ingrid got back on the bike, and I was definitely not going to miss her coming in on the bike! So I ran 8.5 miles at Town Lake this morning.

Ingrid in transition

Ingrid starting the run

Looking strong on the run!

I think this is around mile 8. Chris, Ramona, Ross, Steph, and David stayed there to see her come by. She said she really appreciated them being there and cheering for her! Kim, Matt, and I went to the finish. We were worried we would miss her finish if we stayed at mile 8 to see her.

Matt, me, David, Kim, Ramona, Ross, and Chris just after Ingrid started the run

waiting for Ingrid to finish

Jess and his son Jake did the aquabike, they both did great, but Jess (and everyone else I talked to) said the bike course was tough. Jess said this was his "I'm tired after the race face"