Thursday, June 10, 2010

Ironman Kansas 70.3

Check it off the bucket list. No, not another 70.3 - but my first MOTORCYCLE RIDE!! I was a volunteer race marshall for the Kansas 70.3 at Clinton Lake on Sunday. Due to my "triathlon experience", the head official wanted me to marshall the back half of the male pro's. 

Uh, pressure!! Those are the folks that are in it for the money. The ones where penalties actually matter!

So me and Doug, super "biker dude" Doug with the ponytail, tattoos and cigarette hanging from his lip, took off from T1 with the 4th-6th place male pro's. (Unfortunately the beautiful Andy Potts was a little bit too fast for me to keep an eye on him!) But back to the race - Talk about impressive. These guys were easily averaging 30 mph and Doug's hog had to chug a lug just to keep up! It was so loud you couldn't even hear the disc wheels anymore! One of the pro's (not sure who) was riding in a speedo and seriously had the most amazing legs I've ever seen. Its one thing to see them working on the run, but flexed hammies, glutes and quads on the bike were Ah-May-Zing.


My half of the pro's were pretty spread out, so luckily I didn't have to give out any penalties. Phew. I tried. I really did. But, they were all law-abiding athletes.

After a full lap on the motorcycle, I hopped on my (well, Allison's) bike and rode around the run course watching for pacing. Again - no cheaters! Way to go everyone! Having a bike when you are spectating is awesome, by the way. I was able to see my Bro on the run course, then pedal over to the finishing chute to watch him finish. So helpful!

After more age-groupers got on the course, I quit my marshaling duties and started my groupie duties. And for the next few days, I woke up singing Ironband songs before I even realized I was awake. Check out the photos that were taken near and by the band. The guy in the green at the beginning of the album is my brother. Good race, T!

And seriously, even Chrissie Wellington is becoming an Ironband groupie! As she should be since they sing about her! ...Chrissie came to Kansas with her bike strapped to her back.... Yep, that was stuck in my head all week! Chrissie (chrissie) Chrissie (chrissie) Chrissie WELLINGTON!

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