June 28, 2007

From St. Mary, MT
east of Glacier Park







Ironman Triathlon Special


June 24, 2007

We woke up at 3:30, ready for the big event—tossed and turned until 4:45. We would pick up Julie at 5:15 for her 5:45 sign-in. Julie had to check in her five bags, get her bike tires pumped up, get ‘body marked’ (contestant number on arm; age on calf). The wind was blowing at 15-20 mph across the lake. It was chilly as we took our position on the sea wall overlooking the race swim course. A choppy surface turned into waves and white caps just before the 7 a.m. start. Great sailing weather!


At the gun (a cannon), the lake looked like a school of mackerel thrashing the surface. All that was missing was diving sea birds. Next to me a black Labrador howled for her ‘mistress’ who was a participant. The dog had been a vital part of training and knew it was ‘crunch time.’

[Interrupting the commentary, there are a few key points to keep in mind: 1) This was not just a triathlon, but an “Ironman” consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride (over a grueling course), and capped by a full 26.2 mile marathon. 2) One cannot fully appreciate the dedication/training of tri-athletes until you’ve actually seen a triathlon in person. These fine-tuned athletes suffer through physical endurance—and their positive attitude is reflected by their smiles and waves to the gathered crowd. 3) Let’s face it—most of us couldn’t complete but a fraction of these events without a coronary.]

After an hour and 14 minutes, Julie completed her swim and headed to the ‘stripping area,’ where volunteers assisted pulling off the wet-suits. A quick change in a matter of minutes, and Julie was headed out for a ‘bike ride’—all 112 miles.

For the next 11-12 hours, Janice and I wandered about the streets of Coeur d’ Alene—from one vantage spot to another, walking Carly (who spent much of the day snoozing in the car in 60-70 degree weather) in between.

During the day, as Julie would variously ride or run by, we would go to the course, yell encouragement, shoot photos, and prepare for the next move.

On the bike ride especially, it was hard to photograph a ‘moving target’ who came into view at 20-30 mph, had to be identified, and the camera started (whether movies or still—lest the batteries drain). Admittedly, I missed a few good shots because I was slow on the trigger.

During one lull at 10 a.m., Janice and I searched for breakfast and wound up at Hudson’s Hamburgers, a local icon for the last 100 years. Ordering a couple burgers to go, we took them outside to a park bench, where we were interviewed by a local TV station as ‘turistas’ who came for the Ironman. (That evening, a clip of me was shown on the Ironman coverage. I still have the talent to attract the cameras!)

At 8 p.m. we headed to the finish line. We watched finishers being joined by family members as they crossed the line—holding infants or holding the hands of a phalanx of kids or a spouse. Even one dog accompanied his master across the finish line. (Carly opted out.) A very emotional finish to a long day.

Shortly after 9 pm, 14 hours and 8+ minutes after the 7 a.m. start, Julie headed down the chute, beaming. She looked relaxed and happy, hardly like somebody who had covered 140 miles that day.

To get a feel for the day, click here, Julie’s first video production. It may take awhile to load, but it's good viewing.



June 25-26,2007
We departed CdA about 11:30, heading towards Kalispell. A lunch stop at the Walmart parking lot in Bonner’s Ferry, followed by an “adventure stop” at the swinging bridge. Amazingly, Julie headed down the trail gazelle-like—her pain was a day away.

During the drive, the motorhome engine was misfiring slightly—which had started in CdA after the oil change. We arrived in Kalispell at the Rocky Mountain Hi RV Park—and I began to ponder the causes of the engine trouble: bad gas?; first time use of synthetic oil?; or a computer chip malfunction? I inspected the spark plug wires and it seemed that one felt a bit loose. I secured it. First thing in the morning, I called the ‘local’ warranty dealer only to be told that they had no appointments until Friday the 29th! We were not about to spend the week there waiting, so we took off and the problem had resolved itself—possibly by the mere tweaking of a spark plug wire. We hummed down the road for a short one-hour drive to Glacier NP.

Montana is indeed “big sky” country. Giant tree covered mountains, and the Flathead River paralleled our course.

We arrived at the San-Suz-Ed RV Park, about 3 miles from the park. Initially we were going to stay in Glacier Park, but we needed a UPS address as Janice had documents over-nighted from her publisher and we were being shipped new VISA card because a number of cards were cancelled due to a “security breach.” Since several of our bills back home are ‘auto-paid' from this card, this was a near disaster. Only the fact that Janice checked our account on-line tipped us off to the cancellation and card re-issuance. Such are the perils of life on the road.

June 27,2007

After settling in at San-Suz-Ed’s (terrible name, huh?), we entered Glacier, visiting Lake McDonald and the 1920s lodge. Julie was ‘foot-weary’ as the triathlon ‘hangover’ had set in. We returned to camp.


Up early, we took a ‘Red Jammer’ tour on the Going to the Sun Road—at least the half of it that was open. Some great views, but the good stuff was just out of reach due to road damage after snow and heavy rains last Nov. The road will not reopen until July 1. Lunched on buffalo burgers at the McDonald Lodge before returning to camp.




The great wine crisis: With the limited wi-fi connection at the park, we checked on Canadian entry regulations. To our horror, visitors from the U.S. are limited to 40 oz of wine per person.
Our stash exceeded that limit (which figures out to be about 5-6 bottles of wine total ---since Julie is travelling with us. We'll count her, even though she is a non-drinker.) I immediately began wine 'triage', and advised Janice that she would indeed be having wine, not milk, with dinner. And I must confess to having an extra glass while cooking. No sense pouring it down the drain or leaving it leaving for some lucky camper!