I came in from work last night at about 10 til midnight.... Being the course is one street over I walked over to get the last views and talked to one of the coordinators with the timing system. This was mile 1 and 25 of the run.... He stated that this is the saddest part of his job. with 7 minutes left he began unplugging the system that keeps the time. He said, " Its mathmatically impossible for these folks to finish on time. People were still passing by. 3,000 had signed up... 2,700 started.... he had only 2,200 on his counter..... A young man (21) or so was trying to make it by.... the volunteer re-plug the system so he could hear the beep, but knew he wasnt going to make it. I stayed a bit longer and watched a few others knowing they wouldnt make it. They kept going.... they finished (unoffically) but still finished..... great pain, agony, hard to watch......
Went for my bike ride this morning and rode some of the course..... gu packs, water bottles, and powerbars (half eaten) everywhere....... bags of garbage from clean-up.... crazy....... Saw two athletes doing a recovery ride on their pro-tri-bikes... still had their ironman label on the bikes.... just a leisure recovery ride after the ironman.... cruising around 20mph or so.... amazing.... rode by several of the hotels.... bikes loaded and ready for departure....... people with huge smiles and wearing compression socks........ beautiful....... nice experience for anyone no matter your goals..... inspirational!
dino
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