Hot, Sweaty People Doing Ironman Wisconsin 2009

There were too many people that Pharmie and I saw on Sunday to list by name: there were friends racing, friends volunteering, blogger buddies left and right, and even blog “lurkers” popping up everywhere to say hi. So I’m not going to try to list the names of everyone that we met up with for fear of missing 1 or 2 and making them feel bad.

Instead, I’ll show you photos of our friends at work. The majority of these are mine, but there are a few that I borrowed from friends on Facebook who have all created large “IM WI 2009” albums filled with great photos! Here we go:

Delicious pizza with friends the night before. That’s Pharmie’s hand snagging some burnt cheese off my crust.


HALF the bikes the day before the race.


The other half on race morning.


The sun rising as the water fills with athletes.


Treading water, waiting for the “starting cannon.”


Ready, set, GO!!


Swimmers in the distance, turning at the buoy on the far left to start their second loop. And the helix full of spectators.


The madness in the “wetsuit peelers” area. (That’s popular IM announcer Mike Riley on the right.)


Chris McDonald “Big Sexy” getting ready to ride. He had the fastest bike split of the race: 23.8 mph!

After helping out as a wetsuit peeler (see video 2 posts down), Pharmie and I got ready to help change the athletes in T2 after their 112 mile ride (with still a 26.2 mile marathon to look forward to!). They would bike up the helix, run into Monona Terrace, grab their “gear bag” from the room FULL of bags, run to the male or female changing room, and get changed into (or out of) whatever they’d like. Here’s the room full of bike-to-run gear bags:

Gear bags.


What the athletes saw after grabbing their gear bag: left for female, right for male.


I worked at that spot “directing traffic” for about the last hour of my T2 shift.


T2 male changing room just before the first pros arrive. It got hectic QUICK!

Pharmie and I had a LOT of fun helping people change in T2. We’ll have stories about that shortly. Guess who I got to change?! Yes, I helped Chris McDonald Big Sexy with his gear bag!! My SECOND brush with greatness on the day!! (Check 2 posts down if you don’t know what I’m talking about - I got to wear Big Sexy’s goggles all throughout the wetsuit peeling!) I did the best I could, but unfortunately I couldn’t understand Big Sexy when he asked for his sunglasses, so he had to reach over and grab them himself. I felt bad. I hope I’m not the reason why he didn’t win....

After 5 hours of helping in T2, Pharmie and I grabbed a quick bite and headed for our next duty: a water stop on Capital Square. On our way to the aid station, we spotted XT4:

XT4 flying through the run!


Marie walking through the aid station.


Dr. Joe was THRILLED to see Pharmie!


Tanya hamming it up!


Kris looked great all day!


Jeremy “toasting” me.


Iron Girl Nyhus cooling off with a wet sponge.

I was giving out gels all night while announcing what the next table had: “GELS *pointing to gels in my hand*, ORANGES, GRAPES, PRETZELS, CHIPS, BANANAS” *pointing to the table just past me.* Pharmie was next to me giving out goodies. Here she is with a cup of grapes and an orange as Robby and Kris (the wetsuit peeler “captains”) stopped by to say hi:

Robby, Pharmie, and Kris.


WI State Capital near our aid station as it was getting dark.


Handing out glow necklaces to the runners.


Brian (with a scraped knee from a bike crash)


XT4 sooo focused on the finish line!


Dr. Joe again!


Wedgie (1199) and a Team Disney buddy headed to the finish!


Kris heading to the finish of her first IM!


Molly and Pharmie at our aid station.

Our shift was over, and we headed to the party at the finish! Here’s everyone on either side of the finisher’s chute doing the YMCA. (Can you spot Pharmie and I in here? She’s doing the YMCA and I’m fussing with my camera...)

People beating the signs near the finish to make some NOISE!

We found Jeremy and his family. He had just finished IM WI #2!! Congrats Jeremy!

What a day! We didn’t race, but we were EXHAUSTED! Up at 5, at the race by 6, volunteering at the swim from 7-9:30, volunteering in T2 from 12-5, volunteering on the run from 6-10, and cheering at the finish until 12:30! We slept HARD that night! What a great day! Congrats to ALL the athletes out there!!

(To see a few more IM WI 2009 images, click here to see an album that contains many of these images, and a few more not seen here.)