I am married to a Half Ironman

Kevin finished the Timberman Half Ironman in 6 1/2 hours.

The really cool part about this race was that he was up against the best triathletes in the world. Andy Potts took first place and broke a course record for a 3 hour 52 minute finish. He was amazing. He ran his half marathon in 1 hour and 14 minutes. He actually was supposed to go to Bejing for the Olympics but didn't end up qualifying in the last race because he got sick and it slowed him down. He was one of the alternates. Then there was the fastest triathlete woman there that finished in 4 hours and 14 min. Chrissy Wellington has not lost a race since she started doing triathlons about 3 years ago. She has won the Ironman championships in Kona for a few years now. She finished 6th place overall. She is absolutely amazing. There was another special entry there that has a special place in my heart. Dick and Rick Hoyt do all kinds of triathlons together including the Ironman. Dick is about 65 years old now and has been doing races with his son Rick for years now. His son is handicapped and he pulls him in a boat on a swim, has a special bike that he carries him on and then pushes him on the run. He finished right around 6 hours. Dick says that he would never do a race without his son. Here are some pictures.

Dick and Rick Hoyt coming out of the 1.2 mile swim.
Dick pushing Rick on the 13.1 mile run.
Andy Potts finishing in first place by about 10 minutes.
Chrissy Wellington coming up the finishing shoot (Natalie and Carley trying to get a high five)
All of us at the finish line with Kevin wearing his finishing medal. Whew, what a hot day it was. (85 degrees)

Okay so Kevin has had one goal for the last 10 years of our life together and it has been to finish a Half Ironman. If you do not know what this is I will tell you. It is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and then a 13.1 mile run. It is referred to as a 70.3 mile race all together. CRAZINESS! He finished this race a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of him. When he sets his mind to something he really gets it accomplished. He has been doing a lot of triathlons but this is the one that he was really shooting for. He thought maybe he would want to one day do a full Ironman, but after this race he said, "I cannot imagine running a full marathon (26.2 miles) after swimming 2.4 miles, and biking 112 miles." I think that he is perfectly fine with accomplishing what he did. The swim took him 37 min. Then he ran out of the water, pulled his wet suit off and threw on his biking shoes and took off for 3 hours and 15 min. on his bike. Then rode in and changed into his running shoes and ran a half marathon in 2 hours and 30 min. His total for the race was around 6 hours and 30 min. Incredible. Our whole family was there cheering him on. He is our hero. I am so glad that my kids have him to look up to and try to be like. They always talk about being healthy like dad and ask when they get to do a triathlon. Thanks Kevin for being such a great example to our kids.

Coming out of the water after the 1.2 mile swim.
Transitioning over to the 56 mile bike.
Running the second loop of the 13.1 mile course.
Our kids running with him into the finish line. Where is Carley you may ask?
Under the haystack, fast asleep. She had a really long day too.

I found a really nice camp ground called Harbor Hill in Meredith, NH where we set up a tent and got to stay with the kids for the weekend. Kevin had to sleep the night before on an air mattress that had a slow leak, but at least he was only about 20 minutes from the start so he got to sleep in a little longer (still getting up at 3:30 so he and his buddy Jeff could be at the starting line at 4:30 in the morning). I even got up and boiled some water for them to make oatmeal. :) The kids and I got to hang out at the camp ground and swim, play at the playground and the sports court. We made s'mores and ate pancakes and hot dogs for dinner. I am so glad that we finally got to go camping for one weekend this summer.