May 1st was a big day for Dave this year. Last year on May 1st he called me from work and said that Ironman St. George had just opened. The date of the race: May 1st 2010- a whole year away. It can be crazy how quickly some of these big races fill up, so for some crazy reason I did it, I signed him up despite my fears of him doing something this big. Little did we know that very soon things would get even busier for Dave making it impossible to train. It was his buddy Rob, who finally convinced Dave to follow through, without feeling the pressure of turning out a good finishing time. Soooo.... around March 1st Dave officially began his training. He faithfully headed to the gym at 5am every weekday morning and worked out for 2 hours. He spent longer at the gym on the Saturdays he was in town, ran when he was out of town, and rested on Sundays. His only goal: to finish.
For those of you who aren't familiar with what an Ironman is I'll lay it out. 2.4 mile swim in a reservoir, 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile run. This was the first year for the St. George Ironman and they are now saying it is one of the toughest courses in the US. The bike and run were all on very steep grades. Dave said he saw guys walking their bikes up the hills. Luckily in the past he has done rides with a lot of vertical incline, which is what carried him through, despite never riding outside this year before the race.
I'm happy to say that HE DID IT! Dave is an IRONMAN! He finished in 16:32, (at 11:30pm) just a half hour shy of the cut off and he loved it! It was very inspiring just to be a part of it. It was especially great to have both of our parents there to cheer him on throughout the day. Dave's parents, the kids and I, and Rob were all able to be at the finish line which was awesome!
Congratulations Dave! We love you!!!
More on the rest of our trip later.
