ARIZONA IRONMAN

Today I followed (on the internet) my friend Karen participating in the Arizona Ironman race.  It was so exciting.  She posted that she was going to compete on facebook.  I thought geez, an Ironman race is such an amazing race to be a part of.  I had to follow her.  I logged on the the website and immediately I clicked on athlete tracker, looked for her name and followed.  It was so cool.  The first part of her race was a 2.4 mile swim which she did in 1 hour 25 min.  She transitioned from swim to bike.  The bike ride was 112 miles which she did in 6 hours 36 min.  Hopefully the majority of the ride was flat. So I'm hoping the bike ride was the easiest of the three events.  She then transitioned from the bike to the run.  The run was 26 miles (a marathon) which she finished in 4 hours 56 min.  I followed Karen as the hours went on throughout the day.  I was amazed at how the website broke down all her times at specific mile markers.  That gave me a chance to estimate when she would cross the finish line by watching her patterns.  By 4:30pm est, the website started it's live feed.  Unfortunately I didn't watch it from the very beginning so I didn't get to see how they started the race but I did get to see bits and pieces of the bike ride and run.  What I did see, the news focused on the top 10 racers.   I really tuned in as Karen got closer to the finish line.  I started jumping back on Facebook to see if there were any posts from her friends and there were.  They were keeping her friends updated on her status.  She was getting close.  It was actually really cool watching the live feed.  All these normal people became IRONMEN today.  It was so inspiring.  Words can't describe what I was feeling for these people.  These strangers.  Their faces said 1,000 words.  Happiness, accomplishment, empowering, passion, exhaustion, excitement, goals, etc.  I wish I could have been there to root them all on.  Anyone who does an Ironman has my respect. 

So back to Karen, I met her nine years ago when she was brand new to my office.  A bunch of newbies all started hanging out together.  I use to watch the Kona Ironman on tv and never had anyone to root for.  Well maybe the underdog.  But never in my wildest dreams did  I think one of us, my friend would one day run this race.  Life has a strange way of surprising us all.   

Anyway, I was glued to my live stream when I heard them say her name.  Karen Marinos "YOU ARE AN IRONMA."  I immediately took photos of my computer monitor as she crossed the finish line.
Karen, I'm so completely proud of you!  You are and will always be an IRONMAN!

Stay tuned for photos.