Thad's First Half Ironman

Thad spent all late winter and spring time training for his first triathlon: a half ironman to be exact. It's 70.5 miles in all. 1.2 mi swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile half marathon. I think he and his friend were a little over their heads, but they stuck to it and completed it. There were times during their training when Thad would have moments of panic, and be like, what the heck were we thinking?! But then he'd have a good week of training and get excited again. I forget his finish time: like 7 hours or something? The main thing is that he finished!! I was due any day so I was a little stressed about driving the hour to watch him, and chasing the kids around while waiting for him in the hot, humid sun, but it ended up not being bad at all. We drove up and made it just in time to see his transition from the bike to the half marathon, which was the last leg of the race. We got to watch him ride his bike in, and got to talk to him for a minute before he headed off on foot. I couldn't believe he was still going. I think at that point after all the physical exertion, if I had to go and run a half marathon I would just curl up on the ground and cry like a baby. But he did it!!! I was so proud of him I almost cried. It was a really nostalgic and experience. The kids got to run through the finish line with him, and when the announcer said his name as he got close to the finish line, he mentioned something about all the kids trailing behind him and all of the nearby spectators laughed.

 Waiting for Thad. I think he was 2 miles away from finish at this point

 

So neat to see him cross that finish line, followed by all the kids