Ironman 70.3 World Championshps (St. George) - Part 6 of 6

 

With the hard work behind, it was time for celebration and reflection on what we had just experienced!  Shortly after I finished, one of my teammates, Jet, finished as well.  His overall time was 4:48:48, but he started in a wave behind me.  Here is a picture of us as we try to collect ourselves and get to the celebration part.

A bit later, Nick Cummings joined the party with us.  Nick is a riot and a great guy.  I was happy to get some redemption and beat him on this day as he smoked me on the run at the Lake to Lake triathlon earlier this year.

Here is the full Boulder Racing crew at the after party celebration.  Brian Andzejewicz and Ed O'Malley absolutely smoked it finishing 29th (4:41:33) and 39th (4:43:45) respectively in our Age Group (M40-44), Jet Swayze had an impressive day finishing 67th (4:48:48) in his Age Group (M35-39). I finished 122nd (5:00:32) in our Age Group (M40-44).  Jay Brown came home in 142nd (5:11:32) in his Age Group (M35-39) and Tyler Anderson finished out our crew with a 146th (5:12:10) in his Age Group (M35-39).

It was a day where everyone had a great race and an even better experience.  We drank and ate and shared war stories of the Snow Canyon climb and the personal battles that always happen during a long, hard run leg.

In a day and age where "everyone gets a medal", this one feels pretty special.  It was literally earned with blood, sweat, and tears along the way.  I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to compete at this level again, but I look back in awe at how amazing this was and look forward with hope that I may some day be here again.