When katie brought up the idea of going to IM AZ to spectate awhile ago it sounded like it might be a fun filled weekend. Our friend Chris was doing his first IM and Katie's coach (and soon to be mine) CB were competing. Here are a few tips I picked up from the weekend of being an iron spectator.
- Leave early on friday...getting in at 3am just sets you up for not a lot of sleep for the weekend and going out on Sat night makes Sunday even longer on less sleep. Sleeping is key even for a spectator...its a long day.
- Bringing a bike along can be handy and fun if you have space to pack it. Granted we rode a loop of the course on Saturday and can i say = boring. I can't imagine 3 loops of that endless boring-ness. To all who have done IMAZ...hats off to not falling asleep on the bike.
- If bringing a bike the best kind of get-up would be a ghetto commuter type you don't worry about the bike and get it set it up with toe clips. This way you can just have a simple bike lock if you need to lock it up anywhere and you won't worry about it. We didn't have this set up and then needed to babysit our bikes a lot.
- Talk with the athlete (s) you are tracking and have a general idea when they might show up for different loops and parts of the course. Then have a stop watch to click by when they pass so they are easier to keep track of than this constant conversation: Now what time were they coming by again? It's been X amount of time and they should be where now if they are going X speed? Numbers can get fuzzy after awhile.
- Don't forget to hydrate, especially in AZ. % humidity = 9%
- Carry snacks.
- Making t-shirts is fun.
- Screaming at the athletes you are following like they are rockstars is equally fun.
- Yelling random people's name on the run is fun, especially if they say thank you or even give you a thumbs up...so don't put your last name on your bib. (you have to start making up games when cheering. It can be tiring... cheering deserves it's own t-shirt: Iron-Cheerleader)
- Being an iron-cheerleader is hard work but totally worth it when you see the spirit of the athlete you are tracking get lifted just a little bit as they round a corner and head off again.
It was a good, fun, weekend all around.
8 comments:
but EXHAUSTING to say the least. is there such thing as a paid professional spectator...i mean if Mike Reiley makes a living off of "XXX, you are an Ironman!" i certainly could make a go of it ;)
Thanks for cheering for us Roo, it was great to see you out there!
Weekend sounds good, hand rips does not sound so good. Take care!
And Happy Thanksgiving weekend.
Thanks for everything - I know I know I didn't smile once on the run but I promise your cheering helped!
Iron Cheerleaders are a gift from God (or your deity of choice). The bits about the regular pedals and the stopwatch are equally smart.
So does this give you any perspective of whether there's an Mdot tattoo in your future... or at least a finisher's medal?
(PS I think it's funny that my security word below is "mount" hehehe.)
That's AWESOME. Two of my riding friends were out there doing it...they never mentioned anything about a boring ride but I'm with you on that one - I would've been bored out of my mind.
Good job!!!
thats sounded like alot of fun just spectating..and I loved the suggestion about getting a ghetto commuter bike...haha...I need one for commuting to work too.....
good to see you getting back to crossfit...
have a great week pants!!!!
dang, thanks for the warining on the arizona bike course...although I'm not going to be doing that race until at least 2010.
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