Ironwoman

We went to Houston this weekend to cheer on my sister Mary who was competing in a triathlon. I must say, wow, those folks were really damn hard. Houston was a terrible venue what with the 92 degree weather and 95 percent humidity. Apparently a lot of people had to drop out during the day due to dehydration. Mary was amazing. She got through the 2.6 mile swim in an hour and a half and the 112 mile bike ride in under eight hours. Then she started to run and she developed a foot injury that made it nearly impossible to keep moving on it. The diagnosis at the time was a stress fracture or a split tendon. She made it eight miles (!) on a broken foot before she finally stopped. WOW. That's some serious determination. I was so amazed and impressed with her and all the other athletes. They are amazing!

I must say, I was inspired. I would love to do a marathon, but I'm not sure that's in my cards. I may run a 5k or something soon though. That's about my speed.

The day before checking out the bike transition spot.

The night before dinner with Team Queso at Olive Garden. There were about 6 friends from Austin and then 6 family members that came to cheer her on. It was awesome.

Pre-race decorations on her door. We're very clever using post-it notes and Post-it flags.

We waited for Mary at the 90 mile marker on the bike route. It was long and sweaty waiting but amazing to watch everyone. We also got to talking to a lot of the other families and friends of participants. It was so neat seeing all the support, too.

Our spot on the turn before mile 90.

Mary at the bike-out transition spot.

Mary beginning the run.

This is at the end, a picture of her damaged feet. She'll find out this week what the damage is and whether she can train to compete in the Arizona Ironman this fall.