Ryan got in the water this morning around 7:35. It wasn't a mass start, like Wisconsin, but instead you were able to "self-seed" yourself the morning of the race. Basically, when you arrived, you jumped in a REALLY REALLY REALLY long line of other swimmers....if you came early, you went in the water early, if you were on the later side, you started later. The race started at 7 am and Ryan was probably about 2/3 of the way through the race pack. We weren't able to actually see him hit the water, but we did get a chance to grab this great pic before he went though the start line.
Here we are just before the race start. Ryan was less than excited about taking this picture but hey...us spectators don't have much else to do all day while he races. We left the hotel around 5:45 this morning and were at the race by 6am. It was about a mile walk from transition to the swim start so we started our day with a little bit of exercise (good for us non-racers!).
So, we were able to see him just before he hit the water but we estimated when he would be into the bike transition based on when we saw him last and headed that direction to see if we could find him.
Another "not so excited to have a pre-race picture" picture..... Oh Ry...
Check out our awesome cheering section and those super fun signs that Ellyn made. These signs have been quite the hit with the other spectators....do they look familiar? They are just like the ones that Ellyn made for our wedding, of the people that weren't able to make it!!
Luckily, a fellow watcher mentioned an athlete trackers so I asked him about it. I'd been googling all weekend to see if we could find one, and so I was super pumped to find out in was an IPhone App. So quickly downloaded it (for $2.99....which is crazy especially after what we paid for this race, but hey, they got $3 outta me this morning). Anyways, the app is great because there are tons of checkpoints on it (1 for the swim, 4 for the bike and 7 for the run) so we will be able to track him all day. And, it seems pretty quick to update. About a minute after we saw him come through the swim-to-bike transition it updated with all his data. So, fingers crossed, I should be able to have some good updates for you all.
He finished the swim portion in just over 1 hour 5 minutes and was in transition for just under 6 minutes. Which means that he is right on schedule. Although we ALWAYS find him when we try, getting pictures from this point on is pretty hit or miss. It's alot like a live version of "Where's Waldo", but here is one of the best pictures we got of him in transition.
The next track point is mile 23 of the bike and I estimate that he will be crossing that here in the next ten minutes. So, with that said, I'm going to get off this computer and head back out to see if we can find our athlete. I plan to blog and update facebook throughout the day so keep checking back if you are interested in tracking him has he completes this major accomplishment!! I am so proud of him and so excited to see him cross that finish line tonight....in alot of ways, he is my hero.
Good luck babe!
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