Dereks an IRONMAN for the SECOND time!!!!

WOW! He did it again!!! This is a accomplishment that a lot of people don't realize the amount of sacrifice and determination that it takes to complete one of these races!! My brother Scott and Derek did one last year and this year have recruited my brother Rick and Brother n law Ricky to join them. For those of you that don't know how hard this race is, just imagine this. They start by swimming 2.4 miles!Swimming is hard especially in a lake with a group start of about 2,200 people. It just chaotic!!! You literally get beat up and pushed around as you are trying to swim. Then they ride a bike 112 miles!!! That's like going to Tucson !! WOW!! To top it off it was a abnormally HOT day- 95 degrees and very windy!! That's not fun when your about to venture on a 5-6 hour bike ride!! Then after that they take off to run a marathon!! Another 26.2 miles!!! Making it a total of 140 miles!! Can you imagine that? I can't! You have a time limit of 17 hours to complete it in. They all did great !!! Derek came in first at 12:07:56
then Scott came in at 12:12:53 Ricky came in at 13:34:15 and then Ricky H came in right after at 13:40:56 . They had a extremely high number of drop outs this year because of the weather conditions. I am so proud of all of them. Derek got a massage right after. Then a few hours later I realized Derek wasn't acting right. At first I though he was just tired, but soon realized I should take him over to the medical tent. He was extremely dehydrated!!! He was dizzy, wasn't making sense when he talked, he was just staring off in space. For those of you that know Derek that's not like him, even if he was tired. So, they gave him a IV of fluid. That brought him back to normal!! To complete a event like this- these guys would get up and run 20 miles at 4:00 am while everyone else is sleeping and then go to work. They would go on 7-8 hour bike rides on Saturday and then still have play dad and get their honey do lists done instead of laying on the couch! Life still goes on they would just have to find a place to add in all these extra workouts like at 4:00 am! Now, that dedication!! This has been a great bonding experience for the family as well! We have a team name, team sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, bike jerseys, even bumper stickers for the cars!! For the big day, we had over 100 shirts ordered for spectators. We had aunts, uncles, cousins, all the nieces and nephews, friends etc, come cheer them on !! We appreciate all the support! These guys deserve it!! There' s not to many people who can say they completed a IRONMAN!! But leave it Derek, he makes the impossible , possible!! I Love you BABE!!