The Wrinkles Are Growing: An Ironman Kind of Day...1/2 Ironman that is!

Yesterday (Sunday, the 18th), Chad and Jeff took on the challenge of a 1/2 Ironman and they did great!

I had the weekend trip planned out nicely...found a resort with a 2 bed/2 bath condo, water park, boat rentals, etc...only problem was that the weather didn't play along...it was pretty chilly and rainy on Saturday. The boys did all their checkins, meetings, etc while we hung out. Saturday night we cooked, numbered everything and headed to bed early.

Chad's age (above) and number (below)

Jeff's number (below)

Alyssa numbering Chad's bag

Alyssa is so good with Olivia...she let her brush her hair for the longest time and unfortunately Olivia doesn't have the "gentle" part when it comes to doing this - yikes!

Sunday we woke up bright and early (5:20am) and dropped Jeff and Chad off at Moonshine Beach for the 7:35am start. Alyssa, Oliva and I headed to pick up Chad's parents, park on The Landing and head to the beack on the world famous "Ducks".

Somewhere in this mass of purple caps are Jeff and Chad

Jeff in the transition (above) and Chad heading up from the swim (below)

Chad making his way into the transition area

The guys did great...Chad finished right where her wanted and Jeff did great too...There was a large enough gap between them that we missed Jeff heading out onto the bike and thought we'd missed Chad, but ended up seeing him too. Thankfully the beach area had a playground for the two girls while they were simming their 1.2 miles.

Next was on to the bike. For those of you not familiar with Southern Missouri, it's ALL HILLS...when I say HILLS, I MEAN HILLS! The plan was to be at the high school, but they had it all blocked off...thankfully I'm resourceful and ended up surprising Chad and Jeff at 425 and 248. They shut down the interstate for the ride and we got to see Chad 3 times, Jeff 2 times...they said they were so glad to see us...we were right at the top of to large climbs and they said they knew if they got to the top we would be there. We left them at mile marker 49, leaving 7 miles left to finish up.

Jeff heading up the ramp and on to the final 6 miles (above), Chad making his way up, below

While Olivia was waiting for both of them to get back around and on the up ramp she was just chillin' with Grandma Wrinkle, eating her M&M's!

Conversation at that point...Mike: Chad, do you want a bannan? Chad: No, do you have a cig I can use? (No, my husband does not smoke!)

After leaving the bike I got both the girls lunch and then Alyssa told me that Olivia had fallen asleep...I was worried because I didn't know how I'd get her out of the car during her nap, but the weather had other things in store for me...all of the sudden the skies let loose...IT POURED! The storm was horrible and finally I decided it was time to brave it. Chad's mom stayed with Olivia (sleeping in the car) and his dad, Alyssa and I headed to Main Street where we thought we'd see them...sure enough, we saw Chad on his last loop and then headed to the finish line to wait for Jeff...Chad followed after. In case you want to know why there aren't any photos...it was still pouring and I didn't want to risk the camera...I took video on my phone. Both boys finished under what they were hoping....Jeff just under 6 hours and Chad at 6 hours, 25 minutes.