September 13, 2009

Late day encouragement...

DSC04264

... for the end-of-the-pack competitors in the Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon.

14 comments:

Wince said...

Reminds me of last call in a pick-up bar.

(Was that mean?)

wv - "acusnout" = the act of accusing your political opponents of racism (seriously, that was the wv)

Methadras said...

Real Ironmen/Ironwomen are the US Military and especially our special forces operators in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These guys are puff-pastry compared to our fighting men and women. Besides, the real Ironman Triathlon is the one that started in Hawaii. Accept no substitute.

Methadras said...

As an aside. I realize that many triathletes are military, so don't go there sugah!!! [two snaps and a twirl]

Freeman Hunt said...

If you finish an Ironman, you're pretty awesome no matter what you place.

Freeman Hunt said...

I can't imagine completing that race. Extremely impressive.

TerriW said...

I know the whole cheering on the stragglers thing my seem pretty goofy, but I can definitely tell you that when I finished my first half Marathon (Seattle, 2000) -- and that was only a *half* marathon! --- I sure did appreciate all the strangers that were cheering on my draggy behind.

Never mind that I was coming in behind some of the full marathon folks. Heh. That Half Marathon was my quit-smoking present to myself, even if it took me two and a half hours to finish it.

It was a nice boost at the end to have all that cheering -- especially when people would yell things like, "You look great!" and you know you look *anything* but "great."

J. Cricket said...

Wow! Tens of thousands of people!!

Source: the same method Althouse uses to estimate anti-Obama crowds.

blake said...

I think it's sweet. (Though it'd probably embarrass me.)

Bissage said...

I had a girlfriend who was a marathon runner.

She claimed her exquisite physical conditioning was the reason why she never perspired.

I thought that was very kind of her.

MadisonMan said...

I went back to the Walnut Street underpass after dark, and there were still runners out there. That was after 12 hours. I'd've been dead by then.

Freeman Hunt said...

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4 miles (3.86 km) swim, a 112 miles (180.25 km) bike and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.

Can you imagine doing that? I can imagine running a marathon. My Dad runs them, and I've been there, so I get it. But to run a marathon AND do the swimming an cycling?! Sheesh. Amazing.

Mutaman said...

Hey Professor, from the picture it looks like about 2 million people attended. What does ABC say?

JesusIsJustAlrightWithMe said...

"Real Ironmen/Ironwomen are the US Military and especially our special forces operators in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These guys are puff-pastry compared to our fighting men and women. Besides, the real Ironman Triathlon is the one that started in Hawaii. Accept no substitute."

What an incredibly ignorant and strangely timed thing to say. I mean, nobody suggested that "triathletes are better than soldiers." How could such a thought even cross somebody's mind? Just such a weird response. The Ironman is hard and lots of people that do it are in very good shape. And the one in Hawaii is the Ironman World Championships, but they're all and Ironman so long as they're Ironman distance.

kjbe said...

Damn straight- Seesh. Amazing. Watching this finish line a couple years ago got me to finally run my first full marathon. Cripes, with all they'd done that day - and the marathon being the last. I thought I should just suck it up and do it already.

I'm no spring chicken (pushing 50) and saw folks older that that just starting the marathon portion at 4, yesterday. I started thinking maybe I... No, husband would not put up with it. Must. Stop.