Utah Half Ironman

I weaned Taylor 2 weeks before the Utah Half Ironman in Provo so I could go watch Tige race. My kind parents kept all 3 of my kids. I enjoyed having some time away and tagging along with Tige & his friends. We had a nice (and blissfully quiet) drive up without the kids and we went out to dinner and stayed at a hotel.

Tige's brother, Kirk, surprised him Saturday morning as he also drove up just to support Tige & watch him race. I snapped pictures in amazement as Tige swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, then ran 13.1 miles. I was very proud of him. Last year he ran this same race for the first time and finished in around 6.5 hours. His goal for this race was to finish in under 6 hours. He finished in 5:55:11. He's pretty amazing. Getting ready for the swim.

After swim transition.

end of bike

starting his run.

Oops. Forgot to take my stinky, sweaty bike shorts off before starting to run. Here, Julie, hold these sweaty shorts for me while I run. Yuck!

Tige was about 6 minutes ahead of his friend Cathy when starting the run. So when she finished her first loop and we hadn't seen Tige yet, I immediately got that stomach punch feeling that something was wrong. I said "where's Tige?" She yelled "puking!" A few minutes later, he came by. Kirk ran by him for a minute in encouragement. I said to Kirk "it's ok if he doesn't finish." He said "no it's not." Apparently I don't understand the athlete mentality. Anyway, he kept pushing through and finished (puked 6 times on the run).

I'm amazed he could push his body to do this, and I'm proud of him. I'm glad I got to be there to watch.

Southern Utah Tri Club