Yesterday was the Ironman Wisconsin and I caught bits and pieces of the race throughout the day. Here are photos from the Saturday set-up and Sunday run.
The winner was a 29-year old Ben Hoffman from Boulder, Colorado. He finished 14 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher! (Finished in 8:32)
Elizabeth Lyles, a 34-year old fitness consultant from Reno, Nevada was the first female finisher. This was her first year as a pro and she’d just come back to competition after taking several years off to have children. (Finished in 9:34)
While it’s always interesting and exciting to see the leaders of the pack zoom by during the run, it’s even more impressive to cheer on those who are out there all day–like 16+ hours all day.
I give these folks a lot of credit – we saw them on the run course last night around 5pm. There were very few runners who were smiling and looked “with it”. The run is a 2x loop course. Mentally that has got to be tough. The dogs were barking/cheering. One runner stopped to pet them and they were all over him. A day’s worth of salty sweat…they were excited.
Have you been an Ironman or an Ironman spectator? My 5-mile run on Saturday was a walk in the park compared to continuous movement for 15+ hours!
Apples and Arteries 
Holy cow! I can’t believe the winner was 14 minutes ahead of the next guy!
ironmans blow my mind! they are so intense, I give them so much credit.
I haven’t but I’d love to watch one! I’ll have to look it up!
I was there too! I’ve had the good fortune to race there the past three years, I love it more than anything. I’m taking the year off so I flew out and volunteered instead. I was a finish line catcher from 8 to midnight which is when you see the real heroes finishing. I lucked out and got to catch the final finisher, Matt Thomas. He is 26 and from Michigan, it was his third race and he came in at 16:59:37, it was so amazing. And even more amazing is that Ben Hoffman was out there from 11 to midnight putting the medals on all of the finishers. What a day, such an inspiration.
That’s really great that you volunteered – especially during the final shift. I tried to register to volunteer but it was full! Next year.
We have fun going out to cheer everyone on.
Wow!! That would be so fun to watch!!! Cool! Go Colorado! lol
Wow, that’s crazy!
~Kelly
http://www.leafynotbeefy.com
I would love to do an Ironman sometime, but that is probably wishful thinking 🙂
Holy cow, an 8 1/2 hour finishing time is amazing! I’m an ironman spectator and live with an ironman….so I give them a lot of credit too, def tough mentally (and physically!)
Wow, how impressive and inspiring. I can only imagine how that would feel.