Sarah is IRONMAN!! Chapter 3

She did it! And she did it well! Sarah finished in 15 hours, 53 minutes, and 18 seconds. She was hoping to just to finish in the allotted 17 hours, and she was spectacular!

9:30 pm, Sarah with just over 6 miles to go


10:54 pm, Sarah about to become Ironman in 50 feet!!


Sarah and Sara after the finish.

Then I hopped in my car at 12:45 am and drove straight back to St. Paul from Madison. I had 2 Diet Cokes and 2 Vaults along the way. I got home at 4:30 am, prepared for class for a half hour, slept from about 5:30 - 7 am, finished getting ready for class, and headed out to teach. I was told I didn’t look like I had only had an hour and a half of sleep. Sweet.

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LIVE From Sarah’s Ironman, Chapter 2

WET, WET, DAY!!! Holy Mother of God. What a wet day. It could be worse. It’s not pouring, but it’s been raining lightly all flippin day. The athletes look pretty horrible out there. Steph and I have been yelling, “LOOKIN GOOD!!” to everyone running by, but it’s been a lie each time. Everyone looks miserable.

Sarah’s been hitting her time goals pretty dead-on. Sarah’s good at estimating her splits. Maddy called me at 3:10 pm when Sarah had just gone by mile 89 in the bike, and she said Sarah was still sporting a smile, but looked lonely.

There were some frantic phone calls around 5 pm when no one had seen Sarah in a while. The cut-off for getting in on the bike was 5:30, and time was not slowing down. I was nervously checking the time every 45 seconds or so. Finally, Steph called me at 5:13 saying that Sarah had just dropped off her bike and was headed into T2. SHE HAD MADE IT!!! Sarah wasn’t in there long, and she was out on the run. Cheerful phonecalls ensued. She’s out there right now, probably about 9 miles into the run. Steph and I are headed back out after a quick drying-off break.

Here are our friends as they start the run:

4:11 pm, XT4 made his point.
(Sorry, bad pun)


4:45 pm, Thomps, still smiling


5:07 pm, Sara
I missed Sara last time, so here
are 2 photos now to make up for it




5:22 pm, Sarah sporting the bag look


5:24 pm, Sarah with 26 miles to go


5:43 pm, Wil, making it before the cutoff!


Steph showing off her wet bottom


Me showing off my wet everything

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LIVE From Sarah’s Ironman

Right after the starting cannon at 7:00 am with a
RECORD BREAKING 2,450 people in the water

It is 12:30 pm and I’m sending a LIVE update from the Ironman Course. Sarah did GREAT in the swim! She was out of the water in 1 hour, 55 minutes. I was just happy to see her out of the water and on two feet!

I just received a call from Maddy who is WAY out on the bike course, and she told me that Sarah was doing super at mile 43. Sarah took off her long sleeve shirt and left it with Maddy and Jess. At that point, it was 12:06 pm, just over 5 hours into the day.

Here are some pics of some of our online buddies shortly after the swim on their way to T1:

8:05 am, Chris


8:34 am, Thomps


8:36 am, XT4


8:50 am, Wil


8:56 am, Sarah


8:56 am, Sarah again.
Notice Sarah’s super enthusiastic sister, Steph, to the right.
Her brother Matt was just behind me, cheering like a mother.


8:56 am, Sarah yet again


8:57 am, Wil heading for the bike, feeling peaceful


9:02 am, Sarah getting ready to hop on her bike

Good luck out there, Sarah!! You'll do great!!!

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