the day it was

Calgary Ironman 70.3 - a spectator's perspective. I did this race last year and my brother was so excited and thrilled, he entered the race for 2010. He has never done a triathlon before. In fact he has never done a race before...10 km...half marathon...nothing. He only bought a bike this spring. I was so very worried for him...I have done these races and I think I put the efforts in for training but he had not done nearly the work I thought was required to complete a half ironman!! Lucky for him he has a ton of natural athletic ability...as kids he could always pick up on sports very easily. I always had to work at it. Apparently, nothing has changed...

Pre-Race - we arrive in Calgary on Friday night and have a nice supper with family. Saturday morning he is up early and heads down to the package pick up to grab his stuff. He comes home and I start quizzing him on his gear. Thank-GOD I had thrown my own tri-gear into the truck before we left my house in Saskatoon. I just brought the entire bucket thinking he may need something in there. He was very, very unprepared to cover that distance in less than 24 hours!!

He had no swim goggles. He had to buy a pair. When I asked him about his swim training, he had basically done a couple of swims...no open water swims...the longest he had covered was 1000 meters. I had to keep my panic to myself. He did not have a bike helmet. When I asked when he had been training with, he had done his bike rides with no helmet!! After cursing him out for several minutes, we had to find him a bike helmet. It was too late in the day to go and buy one. My sister in law digs in their basement and comes up with her old baby blue helmet...with a visor!!

Oh my god.

When I asked what he had done for bike training, he said he had done the course three times. I was starting to feel better. Sometimes we (I) get so hung up on the training and the gear etc...his bike had no aero bars, it had no bottle cages, we had to rig up my aero bottle to the front of his handle bars!! The damn thing had only 8 gears!! He had no clip in pedals...he biked the entire route in his running shoes. Wearing a baby blue bike helmet with a visor...

Sunday morning we were up very early as I told him to get through the day he needed to go slow and EAT. Eat lots. So he had a huge breakfast as my advice was to start with that tank full. He had never trained with gels or food or even a sport drink. I was very scared that he was not going to finish this thing or that he was going to end up in the medical tent.

At the race start, I helped him get his stuff where it needed to be. We had driven his bike out the day before.

Of course, he did not have a wet suit, and I had brought mine for him to use. The night before, he tried it on but put it on backwards...holy I laughed!!

The swim: He struggled in the swim. He could not catch his breath and the suit was just a bit too small. He said he panicked and wanted to stop about 10 minutes into it. He has never swam in open water before. He just took a small break and tread water for a bit and did some back stroke and made his way through the swim course. When I saw him coming up the ramp, his face was total shell shocked...he looked like he had been through a war zone. We walked him over the bike gear and he just kept saying "I couldn't breathe. That was really tough. How long is the bike ride? I couldn't breathe." But he did that swim in 46 minutes!! He was worried he would not make the cut-off...

I got his bag for him and just started handing him his bike stuff. Here are your socks...just put them on. He would say "That swim!! I could not breathe!!" I would say "Forget it...you have to get on your bike now!! Here is your t-shirt...get it on!!"

Oh my god!!

As he was coming out of the transition, he had not put the bottle on correctly and had spilled most of his gatorade...he stopped and I took a few minutes to re-do it for him. My last advice to him was to stop at EVERY aid station and fill that bottle up!! Eat!! EAT!!! EAT!!! Off he goes for 90kms...on a bike with 8 gears and big thick tires and no aero bars. Oi.

The run: We weren't very good spectators as we missed his T2. I thought the bike ride would take him much longer than it did...He did that course on that bike in 3 hours and 33 minutes!! Again, I was worried about him out there but I guess his old hockey legs came through for him. I ran for him just a little bit at the end and he said he was just going slow the whole way but running the whole way...my advice also to him...just go slow the whole day!! He looked good and strong and ran UP that last bugger of a hill at the 18km mark! He did his run in 2:34!! Which by the way...beats my run split from last year...

I am SO PROUD of him for doing this!! I had to keep the panic out of my voice for the two days leading up to the race and just be the upmost supportive sister EVER!! His total time was 7 hours and 10 minutes...very respectable I would say!!