Race Day!

This past Sunday was the big race day we had been planning for over a year now. It was an early start for us (4am) so we could get the babies ready and to race site at 5am (the house we had was 25 minutes away).

The girls took well to the 4am wake-up call. As usual they ate well and then slept often. It is starting to appear that Lexie is enjoying the her bottles more now. She is happily finishing 95-100% of her bottle and burping without significant regurges. We are caustiously optimistic and will be keeping a close eye on this to make sure we do not have any set backs. On another note - we will no longer be using Huggies diapers for a while. This trip has taught us that they leave the babies feeling wet (no wicking apparently) and therefore we have had very fussy critters while on our trip. I have heard that this brand of diaper is good at later stages, so we will try them again when the girls get older... until then it is back to pampers we go.

At any rate - race day weather started out very chilly (45F) so the girls and I cozied down into the car until just before the race started. At 630am we ventured out to meet Kevin at near the swim start area. It was a bit diffcult to find him b/c the tent we had used as our meeting point had been moved from the day prior and just about every athlete was decked out in black wetsuits and red swim caps. Kevin found us at 640am. After a quick update on his ankle (he severely injured it on 11/15 running and had not been able to put much pressue on it leading to the race) and a much love from me in the girls he was off to the swim start.

The gun sounded at 7am and the atheletes were off for the day. Kevin's anticipated time prior to his injury was around 9hrs 30minutes - with the injury just finishing was the goal. The girls and I camped out at the car with the heater running until the sun rose high enough to heat the air (it got to be 75F). Kevin did an amazing parking job that morning backing us into a parking garage spot that allowed us to sit in the tailgate and watch the atheltes on a portion of the bike course - it was a 3 loop course so we were able to cheer him and our other friends that were racing several times. In total we had 5 racers (Kevin, Bill, Tom, John and Ed) and 11 supporters (me, Lexie, annellice, Katie and John (kevin's parents), Meg (bill's wife), Tracy and Cadence (tom's wife and their 5/6month old girl), Sharon (John's wife), and finally Trey and Nicole (dear friends who shortened their trip to Sedona to cheer on the boys). The girls did amazingly well given the loud party atmosphere that was all around us (think lots of screaming/chering and cowbells rining). It probably helps that we had 4 professional mom's around us (Katie, Sharon, Meg and Nicole all have been moms for 3 to 30 years).

After the bike portion of the event was complete we packed up the girls and walked down to the race site to watch the run portion. The run was a 3 loop course (figure 8 shape) that totalled a marathon. The worst part of the endeavor here was that it was all on concrete walk ways (not good for a bum ankle) and not a shade tree in site where you could watch the course closely. As it so happened the run course looped under a bridge and we were able to take shelter there. The noise was a bit much at times but luckily it was just cheering and not the loud announcer speakers.
Kevin was able to hobble past us with a brave face. After the 1st lap he nearly pulled out of the event - each step was painful both walking and running, the compression sock was hot, and the swelling in his ankle was so bad that his foot had gone numb too. I personally have never seen him in that amount of pain before, but this was his race and to continue or not was a call to be made by him. He decided to head out for another loop and re-evaluate the pain at the intesection of the 2nd lap (approx 3.1 miles after I saw him). At the intersection he was jogging with a group of 6 other people, but rather than stop and evaluate the situation he kept going. Tough as nails! The girls were due for a feeding at this point so it was back to the car for us for some down time.

The parking area was quiet now that 95% of the athletes were out on the run course. Here I had my first experience being smeared with poop. Lexie had soiled her diaper and little did I know that some of it had escaped the diaper and found its way to her leg. After picking her up and changing her I noticed that there was poo on her foot - "where did that come from?". After a few moments "DOAH!" as I found the evidence planted squarely on the front of my shirt. Annellice sleeps thankfully sleeps through all of this commotion but then starts all of her own fussiness issues shortly there after while I am feeding her sister. Ahhh, to have another set of hands would be wonderful.

By the time we finished our feeding the sun had started to set and the air temp dropped about 10-15 degrees. We had packed layers for the girls so on they went. I had been getting updates via cell phone and Kevin was still on the course. Meg, Nicole and Trey arrived at the car just as I was locking up and we were off to the finish line to watch the boys finish. The crowd of people was insane. Luckily the lady with the double stroller was given wiggle room to get through when needed. We made it to within 25 yards of the finish line before I sent the others on... the announcer speaker was a bit to loud for the girls to be near (it was like being in front row seats at a rock concert). Kevin crossed the line in roughly 10 hours 30minutes, and met us down the line from the finish line shoot. After some manuevering the girls and I managed to help him pick up his bike and gear bags. We made it back to the house around 730pm after a quick trip to Jamba Juice (chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie for Kev) and Chipotle (salad for me).

The girls settled in for the evening extremely well! I was expecting far worse given the fact they were being overwhelmed with noises, light, and smells all day long. I managed to do the 2am feeding by myself as Lexie was awake and raring to go while Annellice was sawing logs (again). It was really a great ending to good day. I do not know how we have been so lucky to have such flexible kids; I just hope their tolerance for this sort of thing continues.