I have to brag about my Dad a little bit for this post because I am so proud of him! Last Sunday (Father's Day) my Dad competed in the Coeurd'Alene IRONMAN and we all went up to watch him. All I can really say about the whole thing was that it was so awesome and inspiring. All he wanted to do is finish it, and he DID!!! He actually did much better than he even hoped for. We were all so worried about him because before the competition he had a bone in his foot and a muscle in his neck that were both bothering him. We got there at about 6:30 am so that we could be there when they shot the start gun at 7:00. It was absolutely crazy downtown with tens of thousands of people from all around the world, loud music and speakers, but there was a certain buzz in the air and everyone was all pumped to be there cheering on the competitors. I personally, don't know how it is even physically possible to do this race. When the gun went off, it was a mad dash of 3,000 people to get in the water and all you could really see was a mist up and down the water course from all the swimmers. The swim portion is 2.4 miles. It looked like the course was never ending, I can't imagine what it looked like from the water! That is a long time in the cold lake water. Dad swam it in 1 hour and 35 minutes. We saw him get out of the water with a smile on his face and we knew that he was feeling okay. We ran to the transition tent to watch him get all ready for the next leg of the race which was the bike, the longest part of the race. We cheered him on as he got on his bike and rode away for his LONG bike ride all over town and up in to the country hills. The Bike portion was 112 miles, and he did this in 6 hours and 48 minutes. (Can you imagine being on a bike for that long?! That's how long it takes me to drive to CDA from Bend) It was fun going to different points along the race path and to be there cheering him on, my kids loved it! He got back to the transition tent and then still had to have enough energy to run the 26.2 marathon. It was crazy watching some of the competitors get off their bikes and their legs just gave out from under them from riding so long. I couldn't help but get teary eyed for the ones who just couldn't go on or the ones who didn't qualify on time and had to drop out. (there were 2,153 finishers) It began to rain pretty hard for the run portion and it was getting down into to the cold 50's. This part of the race is where we got to see the most of him. Our whole Smidt family clan stood on a bridge to watch the run and so we got to see him go under the bridge 4 times and we drove the car to certain points along the course to cheer him on! After he passed the bridge the last time, we all hopped in our cars and drove down to the finish line and I think we all had tears in our eyes when we saw him cross the finish line after 14 hours and 11 minutes of hard core endurance! What an accomplishment after working hard for this for a solid year. I am so proud of my papa. Now he can check this off his 'Bucket List'! 
Dan had to try the finish line for himself!
(This is how we found him after the race! Getting foot rubs by the family. He wasn't complaining!)
Family came from all over the country to watch him in the IRONMAN and so we had a family reunion the week after the race. It was fun to see cousins from all over that we really don't get to see very often. During the week we had family pictures, spent a day at the beach/park, played Lacrosse, hiked Tubbs Hill and then swam in the lake, went swimming in Nana's pool, had game nights, celebrated my birthday, went shopping, had a skit night, and had fun just hanging out with all the people we love most. I am completely exhausted, but had such a fun and memorable week.
We all jumped in the lake after our hike.
Brian entertained us in the evenings in his famous 'Blue Sweater'! He's single ladies....!
My cousin Ryan and I share the same Birthday, so we got spoiled one night together!
Family Picture with Nana and Pops.
KJ loved spending time with his cousins Jayden and Spencer
cousin sword fights
4 comments:
That is so amazing you dad finished an Ironman! WoW!!! I seriously don't know how anyone could do it. Amazing. Looks like the reunion was fun too. Your family is awesome.
I'm SOOO impressed that your dad did that! Your post actually made me cry. What an amazing accomplishment.... Looks like you had a blast with your family too!
What a fun trip! You must be so proud of your dad. I've gone to marathons before and am always so inspired by the people participating.
How awesome! That would be seriously tough- Looks like you had so much fun on your trip! Didn't your mom and Dad move away from cd'a?
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