Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh! Come on, I know you are singing the song now! ;-)
Finally! The weekend all of the Fedors were waiting for arrived!
Nick began training for Challenge Cedar Point---a full Ironman race---in March 2015. The next six months were stacked with long runs, long bike rides, and challenging swims in Lake Erie! Nick enrolled in swim lessons at Oberlin College so that he could perfect his stroke and learn to time his breathing. It was so beneficial to him to take these lessons. Several friends were at the pool at the same time, taking their children to lessons, and they would tell me they saw Nick! You're never too big or too old for lessons of any kind. ;-)
Nick had several friends at work who helped him out along the way. From coaching, to kayaking beside him while he swam, to bicycling friends---we are grateful!
People in the Challenge Cedar Point Facebook group grew super nervous in the ten days leading to the event. Mostly because of the big blue lake...or should I say *green* lake? The annual algae bloom threatened to move or even cancel the swim...and mostly, Lake Erie is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
And this is what we had race weekend:
Yikes!!! A friend, who does triathletes and Ironmans on the west coast and was racing the same weekend, said that Lake Erie looked worse than the Pacific Ocean!!!
So yeah, lots of wind. Lots and lots of wind. Go figure. The weather had been GORGEOUS up until Friday night of race weekend. It was sadly too cold for the swimming pool, though the kids still hit up the hot tub...until it closed because of the weather! Boooooo.
Emory loved it, though! He enjoyed the waves crashing into his face. He was seriously soaked after our walk down to the pier.
There was so much storm and wind Friday night, that lots of race tents were destroyed, and the finish line was completely dismantled. An official race boat capsized while they tried to set up buoys in Lake Erie. It wasn't looking good. The alternate swim site (the marina) had been laced with algae, so that was looking like a no-go as well. We began feeling sick to our stomachs thinking...all of that training! All of that money! Just to do a duathlon! Nick said he would swim the 2.4 miles in the campground pool, if the swim was cancelled, so that he could still say he was an Ironman.
But, good news!!! The crazy storm had taken all of the algae out of the marina...so the swim was ON like Donkey Kong!
It was so cold race morning. The wind was still brutal. Nick's dad had gotten up early with him to go with him to set up transition zones. I tried to get the kids out of their warm snuggly beds at 6:15 and somehow managed to leave in time to catch Nick before he started! The kids stayed wrapped in their blankets for most of the day.
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| Nick and his dad at the start line |
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Ready to go!
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| Getting into the water. |
Nick gave us approximate times as to when he'd be half way through the swim, and when he would finish...and he was spot on! It's funny...I kept looking at swimmers' arms and saying to myself, no, that's not him, that guy's arms are too big. Said it about Nick, too, and apparently his arms are big. :-P
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| Nick at the half way point |
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| Coming out of the water |
Since the swim was moved to the marina, race organizers set up a shoe zone so athletes would not have to run the .6 miles to transition bare foot!
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| Pre-transition |
Next up was the bike.
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| Leaving Cedar Point. Back in 112! |
We were able to catch Nick on the bike in downtown Milan. The Edison High School girls soccer team was on hand to cheer on the athletes----they were so fun!
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| EHS students dressed up to cheer athletes on |
Nick's friend Ed (the one who biked to D.C. with him last year!) was able to catch Nick on the second loop through Milan. Lookin' good!
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| As taken by Ed. |
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| Coming in on the Causeway. |
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| All done! Heading to transition. |
As you can see, by this time in the afternoon, the day was gloriously sunny. Still horribly windy, though. All of the bikers said it was rough with the wind.
Nick's coach Kevin was able to see him off on the run. That was special. I didn't know who he was and I was confused as to who knew my husband and was talking to him! Ha.
The kids and I stationed ourselves near a park in Sandusky so that we could see Nick run by several times. The course wound through the park, and then up and down some nearby streets. In total, I think we caught him five times!
Ug, I just feel like this hurts looking at it:
Nick's friend Tony from work captured this happy shot. His knee is bent in this pic! Lol:
Then we went to dinner! Ha. We were very hungry. Nick still had about 16 more miles to go from this point. The course returned to Cedar Point, and then repeated itself, so Tony was able to see him again several times while we were at dinner!
The finish was exciting of course! We met up with Nick's parents again with about an hour to spare. It was fun trying to calculate his finish time. I remember watching for his white hat and when I could finally see it coming through the parking lot I screamed, "He's coming! He's coming!" So exciting.
Nick came in right between my and Tony's estimation around 8:10 p.m. Ha! The kids and Nick's mom ran with him down the carpet and to the finish. Apparently there was a live stream we didn't know about in which my sister, mom and aunt all watched.
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| Shot captured by my sister on the live stream |
The finish line was lit with neon lights and music played. "Come on Eileen" played as Nick crossed. The announcer mentioned some fun facts about Nick, and the kids names...and of course, mispronounced our last name. I made sure to correct him on that. ;-)
Nick's official time was 13:04:18. You can see the break down
here. He finished 64th out of 169 full Ironman finishers. :-)
After his finish, there was no real hanging around to celebrate...we walked to the food tent, then headed back to the RV. I had to take the kids home so they could get to school the next morning, and Nick had to leave for Michigan in the morning. *Had* to. Despite committing to this race eight months in advance, work would not budge on their six-week notice to go to Michigan. Thankfully, Nick's dad was willing to drive him because we all knew Nick would be way to stiff to be safe.
An incredible journey for Nick! He is going through a little training withdrawal now. I have to wonder what's next?!?
