Iron Frank
Having been fully infected with the Tri bug ( it's not curable, and nor do I want it cured! ), I decided that finishing an Olympic distance tri wasn't enough for one weekend. I needed *more*! Then I found out that Ironman Wisconsin was being held in Madison, WI on Sunday, Sept 12th, the day after my race on the 11th. They had a notice out on the site saying that they were in need of volunteers to work the course. So I signed up to do it.
I got up early on Sunday morning, took Taetum for a quick walk, tossed some stuff in a backpack ( food, water, sweatshirt ) and hopped in the car. Drove and hour and half north to Madison. I managed to not get too lost in Madison, found the free parking area, and hoofed it a mile to where I was assigned to report.
That turned out to be aid station #4 on the run. For those who aren't familiar with an Ironman race, it is a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bikeride, followed by a 26 mile run ( a marathon ). The top professional athletes are simply insane machines who can churn through that in around 9 hours, start to finish. Because the run has a loop in the middle, the runners that passed us were either on mile 5 or mile 18 of their runs. Behind them were the 2.4 mile swim and the 112 mile bike.
The aid station for an Ironman is a completely different animal than for a shorter distance race. At a shorter distance race, you've got water and gatorade, and *maybe* some kind of clif bar or energy gel. We had: Water, Gatorade, Defizzed coke, Chicken broth, cups of ice, sponges soaked in icewater, orange slices, bananas, grapes, pretzels, gu energy gel, a full-time doctor, and about 12-20 volunteers like me to manage all of the above and get it to the athletes. Repeat every mile, and you get an idea of the support that goes into one of these races.
I ended up staying past my allotted time, because seeing all these people complete this was simply an awe inspiring sight. From the leaders who came by around 1pm on their first lap setting a blistering pace, to the woman who ran past with a grimace on her face and a prosthetic left foot and no sign of slowing down, to an old man named Frank. I have no idea how old he was, but there he was, coming past for the second time around 9pm, with three hours left before they close the course and 8 miles to go before the finish, taking some chicken broth and thanking *us* for coming out and volunteering.
As it got later, the course got darker, the runners got fewer, but none of them were going to quit. Some were lost in their thoughts, taking their mind somewhere else while their body kept putting one foot in front of the other. Others were jovial, knowing that there was simply no way they were not going to finish and rejoicing in their accomplishment.
Frank finished by the way, with a half hour to spare, and took first place in his age group: Males 75-79 years old. 1908th out of 1973 overall finishers:
1908 16:27:17 FARRAR, FRANK BRITTON SD USA 1/1 M75-79
I got up early on Sunday morning, took Taetum for a quick walk, tossed some stuff in a backpack ( food, water, sweatshirt ) and hopped in the car. Drove and hour and half north to Madison. I managed to not get too lost in Madison, found the free parking area, and hoofed it a mile to where I was assigned to report.
That turned out to be aid station #4 on the run. For those who aren't familiar with an Ironman race, it is a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bikeride, followed by a 26 mile run ( a marathon ). The top professional athletes are simply insane machines who can churn through that in around 9 hours, start to finish. Because the run has a loop in the middle, the runners that passed us were either on mile 5 or mile 18 of their runs. Behind them were the 2.4 mile swim and the 112 mile bike.
The aid station for an Ironman is a completely different animal than for a shorter distance race. At a shorter distance race, you've got water and gatorade, and *maybe* some kind of clif bar or energy gel. We had: Water, Gatorade, Defizzed coke, Chicken broth, cups of ice, sponges soaked in icewater, orange slices, bananas, grapes, pretzels, gu energy gel, a full-time doctor, and about 12-20 volunteers like me to manage all of the above and get it to the athletes. Repeat every mile, and you get an idea of the support that goes into one of these races.
I ended up staying past my allotted time, because seeing all these people complete this was simply an awe inspiring sight. From the leaders who came by around 1pm on their first lap setting a blistering pace, to the woman who ran past with a grimace on her face and a prosthetic left foot and no sign of slowing down, to an old man named Frank. I have no idea how old he was, but there he was, coming past for the second time around 9pm, with three hours left before they close the course and 8 miles to go before the finish, taking some chicken broth and thanking *us* for coming out and volunteering.
As it got later, the course got darker, the runners got fewer, but none of them were going to quit. Some were lost in their thoughts, taking their mind somewhere else while their body kept putting one foot in front of the other. Others were jovial, knowing that there was simply no way they were not going to finish and rejoicing in their accomplishment.
Frank finished by the way, with a half hour to spare, and took first place in his age group: Males 75-79 years old. 1908th out of 1973 overall finishers:
1908 16:27:17 FARRAR, FRANK BRITTON SD USA 1/1 M75-79
posted by Chris Parker at
2:47 PM
2 Comments:
Congrats for volunteering! I'd love to watch the finishers at an Ironman... next year I'm definitely going to do it.
By
klbarrus, at 3:34 PM
So cool! Supporting events like that is such a great experience - you get to watch people really pushing their limits. I did volunteer crew for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walks for two years and it was always amazing to meet the walkers and help them through the experience.
In other news, I didn't realize you were so close to Madison ... I might be there for training some time this fall. Stay tuned :)
By
Krisanne, at 6:37 PM
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