Ironman WI, September 11, 2011

Alaina showed her support :)

Something that very few people in the world can say, is that they completed a full Ironman, let alone, one of the hardest courses in the world. However, I am lucky enough to say that I was able to witness my husband complete a full Ironman, and it was one of the proudest moments (yet scariest) of my life.

The first of three events was the swim. 2.4 miles and my husband was out of the water in 01:17:43. This was a great time and I was so excited to see him come out of the water! However, he did  come out of the water WITHOUT his very expensive watch. For those that do triathlons, this is kind of a big deal. He had several more hours ahead of him, and had everything timed out on his watch such as when to eat and his pace, etc. So, he kept plugging along and transitioned into the bike.

All of the "Etten" cheering section got onto a bus that took prospects to the half way point so they could see their loved one and cheer them on. I was calm at this point and feeling great, as I hadn't had to walk that much (8.5 months pregnant and feeling awesome!) and my anxiety was less, as he was past the scary part for me (the swim).

At the half way point of the bike

We got to the half way point and waited for him. We were able to track his progress on the internet so we had a good idea of when he was going to be coming. Finally I see my husband coming around the corner. He was going SO fast I was afraid he wouldn't see us! But, he did and stopped. This is when he told us that he lost his watch, this is why he was doing very very well on the bike, he didn't know his pace and he was booking it!! He looked great and I was so confident that he was going to do better than his goal! At this time he could walk the marathon at the end and still finish, that is all I cared about! He gave me a quick kiss and he was not ready to finish the last half of his 112 mile bike ride.

He ended up coming in off the bike which felt like FOREVER!!! We were inside waiting for him to come into the transition to start running, and it felt like an eternity. He ended up coming in, still looking phenomenal, at a time of: 06:37:15.

I was able to talk to him real quickly and give him another kiss. Now, all he had was a marathon and he had obtained his goal of finishing.

The Etten Crew went downtown Madison to eat and take a seat. At this time, the walking was starting to hurt and felt like I was going to walk myself right into labor, but this was nothing compared to what my husband was feeling, mentally and physically, so I kept my feet a moving! :)

Officially an Ironman

We were thinking  based off of how good he looked that he would be able to do a light jog and average a 12 minute mile. Time kept dragging on and on and my husband wasn't coming to the half way point yet. As I checked the internet I saw that his time was getting slower and slower. I was so nervous that he was hurt or mentally breaking down. Finally, I saw Nate coming and he was walking with a limp. I instantly went to talk to him and he explained how his chest was hurting and he had blisters on the bottom of his feet from the socks rubbing. I started to walk with him a little bit, with very little talking. We went a few blocks and I got to the side. Tears were in my eyes, as I saw my husband in so much pain and so close to the end. He looked awful. He had a grey color to his face and he looked SO skinny. All personality and smiles were gone in him at this point. He honestly did not feel or look like the same person and it was a very scary experience for me, and I am sure the rest of the crew.

At this point we knew that he had a long road ahead of him and he was going to be walking, but even at that, he was going to come in at a good time and finish. So it was a bitter sweet moment  for us all.

Nate did end up crossing the finish line at a total time of: 15:04:35. It was such an amazing moment for him. The 9 months of extensive training and time that he had put in, was all worth it!! I now look at my husband a completely different way. I have never seen someone put so much effort into something so hard, and do such an amazing job. Alaina is a lucky little girl to have a dad like this!