So this weekend I had the opportunity of volunteering again with the Ironman. This time it was with the Ironman in Panama City, Florida. I looked forward to doing this because I had some friends going to be participating in the event that I wanted to support. I’ve never participated in a triathlon, it has never been of any interest to me. I have volunteered with a few sprints and with the Ironman a few times and they are beginning to interest me more and more.
I witnessed so many people at this race, I got to see older people, bigger people, handicapped people and then the professional athletes of course were there. Luckily I got to meet a lot of these people and talking with them was so inspiring to me. I met a professional triathelete who DNF’d the race and he was a humble guy who was so concerned with the sponsorship issues of him dropping out, but in the end he kept saying I always have the next Ironman I will come back and do better… Then I got to witness a paraplegic swimming and coming in from the swim,biking and then running… It was simply amazing to see!
But the best thing I think I got from the whole weekend had to be meeting and witnessing one of Matt’s friends. She is a girl from Valdosta Georgia, and she participated in the Ironman. What was so unique about her to me was she had a baby 6 months ago and her family was with her at the event. When she crossed the finish line of the Ironman, in a kick ass time I must say, her husband had her baby to greet her! When Matt and I walked up to the sidewalk to speak to her she was sitting and feeding her baby her bottle! Immediately I teared up! I had flashbacks of me and my little man when I did my very first marathon and he was around 8 months old. But to see something such as this made my heart drop and made me have SO much respect because us women catch so much hell for wanting to be involved in anything other than our children. Although, if we don’t we still catch it! But it was very nice meeting another woman athlete that managed a child and such strong endurance training!
My weekend was exciting, I enjoy volunteering with active events such as Ironman because there is so much positive energy involved. We stayed at the race until around 10:30 pm and then made the long drive home. This morning I got up and got my long run in for the week of 18 miles. It was a good fast run, and I did it on a hillier course than my usual one. This ends my 9th week of training. Next week I am moving into week 10!!!
