He's an IRONMAN!

We started the process about a year ago.  Sitting on the couch one night, Sean gets a text from a high school buddy (Brian) who lets Sean know Brian has signed up for the Woodlands, TX Ironman to take place on May 21, 2011.  Calculating the date, I knew we would have a 2.5 year old and 5 month old so I kindly responded to his inquiry of whether he could sign up too with "Well, you can, but know that with all your other commitments, I expect training to be before kiddos wake up, during naps or after kiddos are asleep at night."  He assured me he could and would and with that, he was signed up to do a 2 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run one right after the other.  That's a total of 140.2 miles folks.  A race that would start at dawn and end at sunset.  He trained diligently (most days)...I mean everyone deserves a day or two of sleeping in...and for the most part, he stuck to the training before kids were awake and after kids were asleep.  There were a few scary moments of ankle issues and sickness...we prayed through those, and God was always quick to answer.  And then the day came when it was time to head to Houston and the weather and the race!

The food (I failed to get a picture of all the gear that we took)

 

Our traveling partners, who for the most part, did an awesome job.  SE broke the DVD player before we had even gotten out of Oklahoma, but he did fine either entertaining himself or with the iPad.

RACE DAY!!

The race began at 7:00 a.m. with the swim starting about a mile from our hotel.  We decided to opt out of it since there were 2500 participants, and the chance of seeing Sean was slim to none.  We made it to the transition area in time to catch Sean from the swim to bike.  However, there was a pretty uncooperative little boy accompanying me so I totally missed Sean.  There was definitely a thought at that point that if this was a foreshadow of how the day was going to be, it wasn't going to be pretty.  

Here's a picture of the bikes at the transition area.

We went back to the hotel room while Sean was biking and kept track of him via the Ironman Live tracker.  After everyone had a breather (and plenty of air conditioning) we headed back out to catch Sean coming in from the bike.  WE SAW HIM!  He was alive and breathing and recognized me (SIDENOTE: during a marathon he ran once, I saw him at mile 20, and he had no clue who I was).

 

The peanut gallery.  Someone asked if SE was going to be upset he missed seeing Sean.  I said probably not.  I was mistaken.

We got to see him 5 times total on the run then we headed to the finish line and awaited his big finish.  Since we've been home, I've been asked numerous times how the trip was...here's a synopsis:  the trip was good.  We had some sweet family time.  The day of the race was difficult and honestly not very fun.  It was hot; I had a cranky little boy who decided to not eat or drink practically anything the day of the race nor had slept well the past several nights and then threw up a lot at the finish line right before Sean finished.  Finley was a trooper, but every time I went to put her in the ergo carrier she literally screamed for 2-5 minutes.  Looking around, there wasn't anyone else I saw with a toddler and an infant.  A lot of people had more than one kiddo, but the kiddos were at least 3 or older.  And then a lot of people had a baby, but not a baby and a toddler.  The only things that saved us were the positive reinforcements of Colin and Sarah Morgan, Mark Salvie and Patrick Blakely who surprised Sean at the end of his run.  I was so thankful for all of them at that point.  I don't know if I was adequately able to express that to them. 

 

Back to the finish...here is the big finale...Sean Boyd from Norman, Oklahoma, you are an ironman (I kind of felt like I too should get a shout out for all I had accomplished that day):

  

 Sean, I'm so proud of you babe!  I know I didn't get to really express it after you finished because all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel room, feed the babes and myself.  But you did it!  You made a goal and totally fulfilled it.  The Lord is good...He took care of you and protected you and the rest of our family during training and the actual race day.  Congrats on a job well done!  And again, you don't get to do another one unless our youngest child is at least a year old!