Ironman for a Close-up

Previously, it was an accidental encounter with the Ironman athletes as they rode through our neighborhood.

This year, I went looking for them.

Madison hosted it's 13th Ironman race Sunday.  A 2.4 mile swim in Lake Monona; 112 mile bike race around Western Dane County, and finally a 26.2 mile run around downtown.

Just a couple miles of the bike race's 40 mile loop pass within a couple of miles from where we live, and with ideal weather (7am was 50, warming into the mid 70s by midday and low humidity, even Lake Monona was 72 degrees) it seemed like a good time to see some of the athletes up close.

It was last year that we just happened on the race.  A trip to store into Verona resulted in a detour (to continue Sunday's theme) and a walk since roads were closed for the bikers.  That was later in the day, and the riders were spread out along the route.

Location, location, location applies to many things in life - and it certainly does if you want to see some of a race and find good spots to take pictures.  So I hopped on the Schwinn Traveler with camera in hand and rode against the grain on the portion of the nearby course a little before 10am.

Yellow topped stalks of corn provided an ideal background for the hundreds of riders that sped past me.  Since it was early in the race, these were some of the strongest competitors flying past.

I noticed some seem to feed off the cheers of the spectators along the route while others were so locked in they may not have known they were in Wisconsin.

The winner made the swim in 52:16; the ride in 4:42; and the marathon in 2:50 for a time of 8:31.  The first place woman finished 12th overall with a time of 9:31.  Congratulations!

It was fun to watch just a sliver of the overall event and appreciate the effort that goes into such an accomplishment (just to finish).  My sister competes in Ironman races - sharing her medals with the Medals4Mettle program.

For most of the 2,812 starters this year - the Ironman is about finishing, not where you finish.

And, while most of us choose not to compete at this high level of sport, we can take some inspiration from their work and run whatever race we have before us to the best of our ability.