70.3 Miles!!

Yes, Ryan swam, biked and ran a total of 70.3 miles yesterday! He can proudly say that he finished the Ironman Austin 70.3. Asher and I were so proud to be able to watch him compete! Saturday we drove up to the Travis County Expo center so Ryan could check in his bike and get all his running and biking bags checked in as well. It was quite the process with over 2200 competitors signed up to compete. Once everything was squared away we checked into our hotel and headed to Carrabbas for dinner. I think we saw close to 20 other Ironman competitors there as well! It was definitely the place to be. In the morning we headed to the course about 6am and hit horrible race traffic. Some competitors were getting out and walking to the expo center. I think I was getting more nervous than Ryan and kept asking if he wanted to get out, but after about 45 minutes it finally started flowing. We parked and Ryan headed to the buses to be shuttled over to the lake. I got Asher ready and all our stuff together for the day and headed to the buses to make it before Ryan's wave started. Luckily, a few people took pity on the hugely pregnant lady with a toddler and helped me load and unload the stroller from the bus. We made it in plenty of time and were able to see Ryan complete a great swim! We ran (well walked as fast as I could carrying Asher) up the hill and cheered him on as he started his bike portion. I decided to walk the mile back to the expo center, instead of take the bus, and luckily Asher slept in the stroller for a portion of the walk. Asher and I shared his first snowcone and had some lunch as we waited for Ryan to finish the bike portion. Then we cheered him on for the run. It was two loops so we waited for Ryan to come around for the first time and he was right on track. Let's just say Asher had about had all the fun he could have at that point and we were sure glad to see Ryan run into the expo center and through the finish line. I don't know who was more excited Ryan or myself! Ryan had to speak at a missionary fireside that night so we hurried home after loading everything up. It was a great race and we are so proud to have an Ironman in our fam!