Monday, July 23, 2012

Lake Placid (Day 3)

Okay, so I learned that while an Ironman is physically exhausting for the competitor... it is also physically and mentally demanding on the spectator, especially if that spectator is with a group of 7 kids.

That being said, I'll finish this blog at a later date after sufficient sleep.  In the mean time, here are my favorite pictures.  I have a feeling there will be more of these in the future!






Saturday, July 21, 2012

Lake Placid (Day 2)

Well, today started off a lot like yesterday (which is not a bad way to start a day):


Today the guys had to take their bikes and bags into Lake Placid into an area known as Transition.  It's a pretty crazy place where they switch sports.  It looks like this:


While they were doing that Georgia, the kids and I went walking down Main Street and we did a little shopping.  The Estes family picked up these awesome glowing yellow shirts:



Micaela got two riddle-type books and a triathlon charm for her braclet, Jon got ice cream, and I got a coffee.  Then we met up with the guys and had a good italian lunch (aka pizza).


Then things got a little expensive.  I mentioned to Kurt that I didn't have the right type of shorts needed for my sprint triathlon (aka short triathlon) that's in a few weeks and he told me we needed to go to the expo because they had a really big selection.  I ended up with a nice race outfit and Kurt ended up with two official Ironman pullovers.   After we'd had enough shopping we took the kids to the park to run out their energy and then we headed home to relax for a bit.  I think all of the adults slept but none of the kids did.



We just hung out at the house for the rest of the night making lists and getting everything ready for tomorrow.  The guys don't seem nervous at all which kind of makes me angry because I get nervous just thinking about the Army 2-mile run PT test.  I think it's going to be a good day tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Lake Placid (Day 1)

Blogger changed it's editing program and I don't know if I like it or not.  I guess we'll see how this blog turns out...

Today was our first full day in Lake Placid (aka Race Day -2) and it was a great day.   I started it off by sleeping in until 8:00 which was wonderful after a few nights of less than 6 hours sleep.  The kids played while we had coffee on the balcony with this lovely view:


Then Georgia made breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes, canadian bacon, eggs, toast, etc.  It was delicious.


Kurt, well, was being Kurt.


Then we headed out to the beach on Mirror Lake.  They guys checked in for the race (got some awesome backpacks), went for a one-lap swim, and then a quick bike ride.  All the while we hung out at the beach.  It is a really nice, low stress beach with ropes and lifeguards and warm water.







 After we'd had enough at the beach (4 hours later), we headed back to the house at Saranac Lake.  By this time Kurt's parents had shown up with presents for everyone (an excavator, chocolate covered pretzels, bike tubes, sangria, birthday presents, zucchini and lucky triathlon rocks) and Micaela joined the group of kids.  The kids took the row boat out and played on the hill out back and we just relaxed for a while.











After sufficient relaxing, Georgia made dinner.  Pasta, meat sauce, zucchini, peppers, and onions.  It was delicious (especially with a glass of Sangria).  Then the guys headed off to their mandatory pre-race brief while Georgia and I decided to walk into town to see if we could find some ice cream.  We didn't find any ice cream in town, but we did find these bears:



We had seen an ice cream store across the lake from our house, so we headed home to grab the car because you can't disappoint kids who've just walked 2 miles in search of dessert.



And now we sleep.  Hopefully tomorrow is equally as fun!