Boise 70.3

 Which turned into the 29.3 mile race. Yes a shortened bike due to HORRIBLE weather.

I thought Boise was supposed to be the nice weather side of the state?! 

But this weekend was the complete opposite. ( It was a good 10 degrees warmer in IF yesterday)

Now to back up some, we left Friday morning to get to Boise in time for Ryan to register, check in some of his gear and check out the expo. We had a fun drive, and a good time at the expo.

Here is Ryan and the kids checking out the finish line:

 Notice the clouds rolling in... or well pretty much blanketing the sky...

That whole week leading up to the race, the temperature kept changing and not for the better!

So Saturday morning we woke up to drizzling rain, and 45 degrees. UGH. Poor Ryan. 

I was glad he was racing and not me...

Ryan trying to stay warm before heading up to the swim.

We had to hike up a HUGE hill to get to the lake. It felt like a good mile at least, in the rain, and wind. By the time we got to the top, my kids were already done for the day. As we waited around, they announced that they were cutting the bike down to 15 miles due to the wind and the cold. My heart sunk for all the athletes.

Being an endurance athlete myself, and knowing the time and hard training that goes into these events, it's so disappointing when the weather doesn't cooperate.

I was disappointed cause my kids needed to get out of the rain, 

so I didn't even get to watch Ryan start.

We went back to the hotel to warm up, and then headed down to the bike to run transition. It was so fun to see these athletes push through the elements, and battling on, was so inspiring.

We were there for about 15 minutes, and then Ryan came through!

We also saw one of our friends from Minnesota come through the run out, and then we headed to the finish line.

There were restaurants all along the finish line, so we sat and ate yummy Five Guys burgers and fries, and waited for the pro's to come in.

And they came in blazing!

I was right behind that blonde lady, and can I tell you what an exciting finish! They first called it for the guy in blue. But because of everyone has phones, and EVERYONE took pictures, they ended up calling it a tie. Which from where I was standing it clearly was. 

So I witnessed a first. A first ever tie in a half Ironman!

Ryan finished in amazing style. He looked so strong coming in on the run. I was so proud of him for taking on the disappointment of a shortened race, and taking on the ailments of the day!

Once I get his finishers picture I will post it!

Afterwards we met up with our good friends from Minnesota and ate a delicious dinner! It was so good to catch up and hang out. Our kids were so happy to see their kids as well!

So to sum it up, all in all it was a good trip despite the weather. It's the one thing we can't control when we sign up for these races. But we can control our attitudes and our mental game. All we can do is take our training and lay it all out there. And that is just what Ryan did. I am so proud of him!

And I am sure we will be blogging about another one of these in the future. 

But next time the FULL 70.3 :)