The Shoe Box, Black Earth, Wisconsin

We drove out to “the largest shoe store in the Midwest.” Liz was hoping to buy shoes. She seems to be low on clothes and shoes since returning from the Yukon.

We drove through some miles of rolling hills and lush fields. When we got to the store, it had closed an hour before because it was Sunday. But there were four horses in a field across the street. We refueled the car and returned to Madison.

Gray’s Tied House, Verona, Wisconsin

We’re sitting on the outdoor patio of Gray’s Tied House, having lunch al fresco and watching cyclists go by. The cyclists are about a block away. We think thay maybe we saw R. go by but we’re not sure.

And he’s off!

This morning, R. woke me at 04:45, with coffee, so that I could drive him to the start of Ironman Wisconsin. We left at 5:05. I dropped him at the Monono Terrace to get suited up, numbered, and the like, then took his “special needs bag” of mid-course snacks and supplies to another drop-off point. Along the way I collected bags from a few other people so that they could go directly to the start. I tied the tops of all the bags with bows, as a volunteer suggested, then dropped them into the correct boxes for their bib numbers.

The drop-off was practically under the dome of the state capital building for Wisconsin, so I took a couple of pictures of the illuminated dome. It was still before sunrise. Then I navigated around the dome until I found Washington Street, and headed off. But the streets didn’t become familiar. I stopped and looked at a map and realized that I’d gone the wrong way, west instead of East. After a couple more navigation halts, I got onto a major east-bound road, then out into the country, and finally back to the right suburb. By the time I got sorted out and back to the hotel, it was 06:30 and the girls were about to leave in their own car. We re-grouped and returned to Monono Terrace in the van. I dropped the girls off to watch the swimmers enter the water, and drove off to find a parking space. I parked a few blocks away and walked back. The swimmers were already starting their first loop, so I watched and took some pictures and a movie or two from the “seawall” side of the terrace on Lake Monono.

The swim start

I walked back and found the girls near the swim start. The weather was mild and calm. The swim is 2.4 miles and the first swimmers were coming out of the water in about 41 minutes. We watched the swimmers come out and stagger into the terrace building to get into bike gear. The pros wore unitard bathing suits. The amateurs or “age-groupers” tended to wear wetsuits. And there was a double line of volunteers waiting to help the racers off with their wetsuits. These volunteers are called “peelers.” I took some photos and then movies of them as well, because they work with verve and enthusiasm.

R.’s estimated time for the swim was 2 hours. By that time there were only about 30 people left in the water out of the 2200 racers. Finally at 2:05 he came out of the water, looking relieved and pleased. We yelled at him and cheered him on. Then we strolled around to the bike exit. The racers ran up to the fourth floor, changed, and biked down a spiral driveway ramp to reach the bike course. We waved him on the start of the bike race. His time in the swim-to-bike transition zone was about 16 minutes: his plan was 15. He’s doing wonderfully well. Being on the bike gives him a chance to eat, use some different muscles, and calm down.

The cheering section returned to the hotel for breakfast and a nap.

Swimmers practising the day before.