Words can not describe how proud I am of him. This has been a goal of his for the last couple of years and he has finally accomplished it. He kept saying that he only wanted to do one once, and not again. But I seemed to know better. Once we got to Chicago and saw the vibe, I knew this would be one of many. He seems rather disappointed with his outcome, but in my opinion, the man finished it. :) He can only go up from here! (Pending any disasters like a flat tire!)
I think on race day I was more nervous than he was. Neither of us got any sleep the night before and I was constantly on top of what time it was so he wouldn't miss the start of his heat. (8:56am)
We stayed with a couple of friends who live in Chicago, but the remainder of the group stayed at the Hilton on Michigan Ave. We had a couple of friends who had done a tri before, so they decided that we needed to be at the transition station at 4:15 am. Which for us meant we had to be up by 3:00 and out by 3:30 at the latest. Boy was that EARLY! Totally worth it though. It was so cool to see the mass amounts of people who decided to accomplish this feat. I have never seen so many walks of life in one area to all do the same sporting event. So cool.
We went back to the hotel in between transition set up and racing to get some shut eye and eat some breakfast. Like I said before, I was so anxious about Greg getting to the start line in time that I didn't sleep. I tried to keep my anxiety to a minimum in an effort to not stress him out, and I hope I accomplished that. About and hour before his start, we headed down. it was incredible. We met up with our friends and got ready. We wrote on their swim caps so that we could attempt to see them when they were in the water. On the lighter caps, it worked, but we had to work a little harder with the darker colored ones. I was able to learn the ropes of being a spectator with two fabulous women who also had their men in the triathlon too. We hung out until the very end.
Enjoy the pictures. I didn't get any of the bike because they biked on North Shore Drive with them in one lane and the cars in the other. I got distracted/blocked by the cars so I couldn't always see them! We saw two of the guys, but I didn't have my camera by my eye so I missed them! :(
About to start the swim.
Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. :)
I almost missed him. Our friend Stephanie was right in front of him and I DID miss her! I was too busy talking to the woman next to me! ;0) Figures.
DONE!
Props to him!! It is an amazing feat to simply complete it. As for me I hope to make a whole marathon sometime in my life but for now a few 5K's will work :)
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