Lately Charlotte hasn’t been great in the car. She usually cries and I think it is because she doesn’t like being alone. We rented a minivan so it allowed be to go from back to front. The first couple hours of the trip she did okay. I was hoping she would fall asleep but she never did. But she didn't cry too much either. We didn’t know Panama City was in the central time zone so just as she was beginning to melt down we kept telling her, “Just 10 more minutes, Charlie”. Little did we know it was another hour. The last hour was pretty rough and of course she fell asleep 5 minutes before we got to our hotel. We arrived into town around 4 pm. We got settled in the hotel, Adam set out to try to find some dinner and I put Charlie to bed. She slept like a rock star the entire time we were there. We had two beds so we just put her in the middle of the bed. She slept a minimum of 6 hours every night and the last night she slept for 8 hours straight! I was hoping she would do that when I got home but no such luck. We are back to our 3-4 hours between feedings.
Thursday Adam did a practice swim in the gulf. It was a bit windy but got much warmer the rest of the day. He spent the rest of the day doing packet pick-up for the race and then in the afternoon he went for a bike ride. Charlie and I walked to Wal-Mart to get a few things.
Friday was spent doing some last minute preparations for the race. We met some friends for an early dinner. There were a total of 10 people from our triathlon club doing this race plus other members who just came down to support racers or volunteer. It was an early night on Friday.
Saturday morning we were up at 4 am. The hotel we stayed out was right in the middle of the race. The hotel was right on the beach and right in front of the swim start. The transition area was right next to our hotel. Adam went to the transition area and set up got all his things ready for the day. Around 6:20 we all made our way to the swim start. The race started at 7 am. Once the canon went off Charlie (who was asleep in the Bjorn) and I watched the swim and tried to find Adam. The swim was two loops. I missed him on the first loop but heard them announce his name. I saw him get out of the water and watched him cross the timing mat on his way to T1 (the first transition). He did the 2.4 mile swim in 1 hour and 8 minutes. I tried to power walk from the beach to transition but I got stuck between the hotels and the beach. I ended up climbing a 3 foot high brick wall (yes, Charlie was still asleep in the Bjorn). Eventually a security guard saw us – I wasn’t the only spectator doing this. I just assumed that he wouldn’t do anything too severe to a woman with a baby so I just kept walking forward. He made everyone behind me turn around and head back to the beach. I ran to where I thought Adam would be coming to his bike. I was about 20 steps behind him on the other side of a fence. I was yelling his name but he couldn’t hear me. Once he grabbed his bike he started running to the bike exit. I started running too but couldn’t catch up with him. I was really disappointed that Adam wasn’t able to see us. We wouldn’t see him for at least 6 more hours.
Charlie and I went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit more. We then hooked up with some friends and had an early lunch. Then it was back to the hotel to kill some time before Adam got back. Around 2 pm I went to the bike finish which was literally out the front door of the hotel lobby. We were able to see Adam get off his bike (about 6 hours and 15 minutes for 112 miles) and start the 26.2 mile run. We walked down the road to the turnaround point of the run. The run was two loops so the half way point of the run was very close to the finish and about a half mile from the hotel. We hung out for the next couple hours until we saw Adam. When we saw him at the exchange point I asked him how he was doing. He said he hurt. I asked where and he said everywhere. Charlotte was beginning to melt down (even though I had changed her diaper and nursed her while standing there cheering for people we knew) so we headed back to the room until it was time to go to the finish to see Adam.
Charlotte doesn’t like the stroller but after about 5 hours in the Bjorn I was done carrying her. There were 2000 racers and a ton of spectators. I missed seeing Adam cross the finish line but I doubt I would have been able to navigate through the crowds with the stroller anyway. I ran into another family waiting for their husband/dad who finished about 15 minutes before Adam. Even though we didn’t see him cross the finish we were able to see him about 10-15 minutes after he finished. He was in good spirits even though he was a little disappointed with his day. He ended up doing the run in about 5 hours for a total time of 12 hours and 46 minutes for 140.6 miles. Not too shabby!
Sunday was spent trying to recuperate. We were both tired from the day before. We went out to breakfast, Adam went and picked up his transition bags, we dipped Charlie’s toes in the ocean (well, the Gulf of Mexico but close enough) and had a late lunch and an early evening. We had to get up at 4 am the next morning to drive back to Jacksonville to make a 1 pm flight back to Baltimore.
It has taken Adam and I most of last week to recover from the trip. Obviously Adam is still recovering from the race and we are both recovering from traveling with an infant. We took so much stuff that we had 9 bins that went through the x-ray machine at the airport plus a stroller and car seat! Charlie slept about half of the drive back to Jacksonville and didn’t fuss too much the rest of the time. She was great on the plane and again barely made a peep.
While I wouldn’t advise having a baby and training for and doing an Ironman all in the same year it can be done. It is not easy but I am glad we did it.
1 comment:
Way to go to the whole fam! Sounds like quite the event (the entire year) -- now a little relaxing??
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