There he goes...half-marathon...twins

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." -Sir Roger Bannister

The afternoon of Warren's retirement found us on an airplane heading for Raleigh, NC.  

We met Luke, and the twins there where we would help keep the boys while Luke did his first half-marathon: Swim 1.2 miles, Bike 57 miles, and  run 13.2 miles.

The day was started off with the typical breakfast of champions: donuts.

Sawyer and PawPaw

Tate

After breakfast,  Luke and Warren headed off to the race site to get the participant package, his bike inspected, and racked in the transition area.

There were about 2500 participants from 30 different countries.  It was a very impressive event...and we had to walk quite a bit because all the roads were blocked off.

While Warren and Luke were getting all the pre-race stuff done, the boys and I hung around the hotel.  There were a lot of motorcycles parked just outside the front door of the motel, and this provided major entertainment for the boys.  We had to go around to every motorcycle to make faces in the chrome, look at the helmets, and "ooh", and "aah" over the bright colors.  The good thing was that this kept them occupied for quite sometime.

Tate

Sawyer

After we had our fill of motorcycles, we checked out the swimming pool.  Warren and I bought them some car characters from the movie "Cars", which also kept them occupied as well.

On the day of the race, I graciously let Warren drive Luke to the race site since they had to be there between 4 and 5 a.m.  The boys and I stayed in our nice warm beds quite a bit later.  Thank goodness.   We headed for the race late morning.  Luke wanted me to get some awesome pictures of him in the race, so we found a wonderful shade tree along the route, and settled down there to wait for him to come by on his bike.

The boys had cow bells to ring and cheer their Daddy on as he went by...so we waited...

and waited...still no Daddy...

and waited...

no Daddy yet...

and waited...as we ate snacks...

And Sawyer decorated his hat with a screw he'd found lying on the curb...

It fit perfectly in a hole on his hat...and we still...waited...

Where was Luke?...he should have come by...by now.  We thought, "man, Luke is slow!"  (Note: he had to have surgery to remove 3 kidney stones about 3 weeks before the race, and had not been able to train, so we thought that might have had some impact on his race shape.) Finally, Warren got online to check where Luke was in the race, since they posted individual results on the ironman webpage.  Luke wasn't slow...Warren found that Luke had finished the bike (how did we miss him?), and was 3 miles into his run.  I couldn't believe we missed him.  Rats, no pictures.  We gathered up our stuff, and walked to the finish line hoping to see him come across.  I watched closely, waiting to get the best picture as he ran by...and run by he did...only I didn't recognize him until he ran past.  Rats...no picture again.  I did not do a very good job of getting amazing action shots.  I only got these pictures after he finished the race.  I am a failure as a sports photographer.

Luke finished middle of the pack in a little over 6 hours.  I was impressed, and proud that he finished.  Everyone was very tired, especially Luke.  Truly, amazing athletes, and amazing Luke.    The boys had a good time cheering for their Daddy even though they did not see him until he finished.  Hopefully, they will be participating in some sports of their own one day.  I hope to have sharpened my skills at sports photographer by then.  It was a good day, and good times.  We were glad we got to be there for the event, and cheer the participants and the unseen Luke.