Blogging from Ironman Florida

 
 A short update and a few pics as I want to get back to the T-zone as see the guys and gals coming off the bike.

- Temp about 15C winds present, but not like yesterday where there were 3' waves in the Gulf.  It was actually unbearably cold, and this from a Canadian!

- I volunteered and was assigned to the water table coming in from lap1 of the swim and again at the swim finish.

- Saw the elite athletes come through but not being from around here, I didn't recognize any names.  This is too close to Kona so a vast majority (if not all) of the pros there would not come here.

- The volunteering was mostly organized but being a 'process champion excellence' as my wife calls me when I offer 'critiques' on ways to do things, I saw areas for improvement all over the place.  Ironman (WTC) needs to take a 'lift and shift' approach to managing the tasks completed by the volunteers given the structure is the same everywhere and every race.

- Everyone who wanted water got water after lap 1 of the swim.  Given we had a ton of water and cups left over, we moved the tables 100' to the swim exit and started handing out more water.  It wasn't long until we ran out of cups.  We had at least 80 gallons of jugged water leftover, though.  Guess the WTC took recent criticisms about water supply to heart.  They need to get the other half of the equation right though and make sure they have enough cups.

I shouldn't be too critical, though, as our moved water station wasn't really a 'planned' one and the athletes had other water and whatnot after transition and on their bikes, of course.  Speaking of which, saw the latest and greatest in rides there are today.  Even some really odd designs.

Given I was at the swim exit, I got to cheer on the athletes and help give them a bit of motivation along the way.  Especially when we were out of cups.  I became a clapper and cheerleader.

I could not believe how far the current was taking people.  One fella had to run 150m down the beach to get BACK to the swim exit.  He let himself get way way off course.  He wasn't alone, though, there were dozens that missed out on proper sighting.

I'm going to head back to T2 and get in on some action.  Oh, I ended up filming a girl coming out of the swim in what I thought would be enough time to make the cutoff.  I knew it would be close, though.  She had tons of energy, was running strong to the mat, then I looked at the clock.  We (the clappers and cheerleaders at this point), were trying so hard to 'bring her home'.  She looked really good and more capable than about 50 people who were staggering before her, but she missed the cutoff by 25 seconds or so.  How heartwrenching.  She mustn't be a fast swimmer, but I tell you, she had energy to spare as she sprinted for the mat.  My heart goes out to her and the others who were not able to finish the swim.

Have to say good luck to "Dwayne"  No  idea who he is but he's got some supporters in my hotel.  Here's how they are wishing him well: