Pictures from the 2003 Ironhorse Triathlon

The weekend of racing started off with a nice pre-race pasta dinner at Chris and Cara's on Friday night. Almost everyone racing and helping out at the race was there. Sarah brought us all a little treat to enjoy ... Harry Potter jelly beans (including the flavors booger, earwax, sardine, and vomit). Here's how we reacted to those tasty treats ...

The next afternoon it was off to Springfield. Gabe and Sarah drove Lara and I, while Park and Steve followed us to the race registration and expo. After a quick look at some of the nice, new, expensive toys (and a few purchases by Larapan) it was back to the hotel for prepping the bikes and some sleep.

Wake-up was supposed to be at 4:50am, but I happened to be a little gassy and had everyone up by 4:40! We quickly got the bikes back on Gabe's truck and it was off to the races. Our waves weren't set to go off until 7:15am (women) and 7:20am (< 29 men) so we had plenty of time to setup and warm-up before the race.

Here are the pictures Sarah got of us during the race. Thanks!! I'll put more up here once the Brightroom.com publishes the photos they took.

Most of us had a great race and I think all of us had a good time. We even scored quite a bit of hardware for the team too. I snuck in for 3rd in my age group (thanks to Chris and some others switching over to Elite), Patrick managed 3rd in his age group inspite of still being in recovery mode from IM Brazil, and Gabe pushed hard for the final podium spot for 5th overall!! In fact, Gabe ran so fast, Sarah couldn't even get the camera to focus on him.

Everyone had a big smile when they came through the finish chute.

Here we are collecting our awards.

Finally, here's the group at the post-race ceremony. Great race everyone! I had a fun time. And special thanks to Sarah for taking so many great pictures!