We had a wonderful trip out to St. George, UT which included the grandparents-to-be, Ed and Debra Blews! After racing to the Dixie Convention Center just in time to be told that Ed could not register, we finally found a kind-hearted soul who directed us to a nearly abandoned ballroom where other kind-hearted souls allowed Ed to retrieve his paperwork. Long story short, we forgot about the time change and thought we were meeting the 10am deadline. We were there at 11am and had missed the deadline according to their time-zone. Sticklers!
Ed impressed us all as he rested post-call that day awakening only for a dinner outing to the Olive Garden. The morning of the race Dad Blews took Ed to T2 where he loaded up into buses with the other athletes and made his way out to the swim start at Sand Hollow Reservoir. Dad came back to the Holiday Inn Express in Washington to give mom and I a lift to the parking lot where we too were transported to the swim start on St. G's finest big yellow school buses.
The scene at T1 was electric and the energy could be felt in the huge crowd of 2100 athletes and hundreds of more spectators. It was truly an amazing experience to be amongst that crowd. We watched them take off into the water, slapping, pulling, hitting, dodging their way into the pack that resembled tuna bubbling in the ocean of the coast of Baja. Ed made great time, jumped on his bike and was off!
We got so lucky seeing him that second time. We came to a corner of the 45 mile loop (part of the 112 mi. bike ride) that was nearest to St. G downtown staging area. Five minutes later, Ed turned the corner and was off on his second loop of what proved to be a hellacious test of strength and willpower. Mom and Dad and myself made our way over to The Egg and I, a local sandwich shop. We had a wonderful lunch and after chatting for quite some time, we took our positions at the bike descent back into town hoping to catch a second glimpse of Ed. After an hour or two, we saw him flying down the road, getting ready to enter T2 and start the most brutal leg of the race: the marathon. We crossed the road and waited. We didn't have to wait long! Ed charged up the hill giving us one last great view of him on that portion of the race course.
The out and back was 13.1 mi. so we had a little bit of time to go to Target, get some comfy camp chairs and of course stock up on candy and snacks! Mom and Dad truly took care of this very pregnant chick (35 weeks at that point). We made our way to the turnaround point where we got to watch Ed make the painful loop and turn around heading back towards the uphill grind and another 13.1 miles. He was devastated that I could not give him his long sleeved shirt. Dad had asked the official if I could hand it to him and the official said Ed would be disqualified. The sun had gone down at this point and it was getting quite chilly. The athlete's body cannot regulate temps under the stress and so temp changes are felt more intensely. I looked at Mom and said, "I can't run, can you?" I saw determination in the woman's eyes as she valiantly took the shirt and sprinted (like a she-bear defending her cub!) up the hill to get Ed's shirt to him. She asked a volunteer to hand it off and he wasn't about to argue with her. Moms are amazing, powerful beings!
So Ed got his shirt and when we saw him returning under the Ford Ironman arch, it was a beautiful site! His feet were torn up. He had to have silver dollar size blisters drained and it was a task for him to walk on them for several days but all in all, he had a great race.
Ed impressed us all as he rested post-call that day awakening only for a dinner outing to the Olive Garden. The morning of the race Dad Blews took Ed to T2 where he loaded up into buses with the other athletes and made his way out to the swim start at Sand Hollow Reservoir. Dad came back to the Holiday Inn Express in Washington to give mom and I a lift to the parking lot where we too were transported to the swim start on St. G's finest big yellow school buses.
The scene at T1 was electric and the energy could be felt in the huge crowd of 2100 athletes and hundreds of more spectators. It was truly an amazing experience to be amongst that crowd. We watched them take off into the water, slapping, pulling, hitting, dodging their way into the pack that resembled tuna bubbling in the ocean of the coast of Baja. Ed made great time, jumped on his bike and was off!
We got so lucky seeing him that second time. We came to a corner of the 45 mile loop (part of the 112 mi. bike ride) that was nearest to St. G downtown staging area. Five minutes later, Ed turned the corner and was off on his second loop of what proved to be a hellacious test of strength and willpower. Mom and Dad and myself made our way over to The Egg and I, a local sandwich shop. We had a wonderful lunch and after chatting for quite some time, we took our positions at the bike descent back into town hoping to catch a second glimpse of Ed. After an hour or two, we saw him flying down the road, getting ready to enter T2 and start the most brutal leg of the race: the marathon. We crossed the road and waited. We didn't have to wait long! Ed charged up the hill giving us one last great view of him on that portion of the race course.
The out and back was 13.1 mi. so we had a little bit of time to go to Target, get some comfy camp chairs and of course stock up on candy and snacks! Mom and Dad truly took care of this very pregnant chick (35 weeks at that point). We made our way to the turnaround point where we got to watch Ed make the painful loop and turn around heading back towards the uphill grind and another 13.1 miles. He was devastated that I could not give him his long sleeved shirt. Dad had asked the official if I could hand it to him and the official said Ed would be disqualified. The sun had gone down at this point and it was getting quite chilly. The athlete's body cannot regulate temps under the stress and so temp changes are felt more intensely. I looked at Mom and said, "I can't run, can you?" I saw determination in the woman's eyes as she valiantly took the shirt and sprinted (like a she-bear defending her cub!) up the hill to get Ed's shirt to him. She asked a volunteer to hand it off and he wasn't about to argue with her. Moms are amazing, powerful beings!
So Ed got his shirt and when we saw him returning under the Ford Ironman arch, it was a beautiful site! His feet were torn up. He had to have silver dollar size blisters drained and it was a task for him to walk on them for several days but all in all, he had a great race.
I just can't seem to make this pretty and organized! Pics are out of order - my apologies!
ReplyDeleteGreat story about a tremendous effort. Way to go Ed and team!
ReplyDelete