Brad at Ironman Louisville 2009 Hello Everyone!

IM Louisville was GREAT! Brad did AWESOME! Thanks for all your texts and emails of encouragement and congrats! Brad really appreciated them all! We arrived back to Ohio late last night. He's feeling pretty good (although not as good as he did coming home from Tempe last fall). This race he pushed it harder and was faster. So the muscles felt it a little more :-) It's such a sight to see all the athletes at the hotel the day after trying to walk down the stairs! LOL

Sunday morning was cool and dry--- really, really unusual for Louisville this time of year, we are told. Brad's triathlon coach, Angela, is from Louisville and says this race is typically known for being super hot and humid. We ran into some people who raced it last year and said it was in the 90's with almost the same level of humidity. This year was the exception! The whole day was beautiful! Sunny, cool and low humidity. Perfect conditions for a race. Unlike Tempe's Ironman, this swim start in Louisville was unique. Instead of all 2,400 athletes starting in the water at the same time, this event started with a "time trial start". That meant, beginning at 5:00 a.m., athletes lined up to enter the water. The race started at 6:50 a.m. with the pro athletes swimming just as the sun was coming up over the Ohio River. Really a gorgeous sight! At 7:00 a.m. they started letting the age-groupers jump off two docks along the Ohio River. Brad crossed the timing mat & jumped in the water at 7:10 a.m. for the 2.4 mile swim up river (just for a bit), around an island, then back down (with the current) to the swim exit. He finished the swim in 1 hour 12 minutes and was the 62nd person in his age group out of the water.

After exiting the water, we all were able to catch him leaving the transition area on his bike for the 112-mile bike course. It had two loops in it, so we drove out to a spot along this portion so we got to see him pass us twice. As you'll see in one of these photos, we were not "miss-able" by any stretch of the imagination! Not only did we have the rainbow clown afro wigs and "GO BRAD" shirts, but Todd brought a megaphone this year! We jammed some tunes nice and loud for the bikers out there (many even said, "thanks for the tunes" as they rode by). He looked great out there! Said traffic was hard to contend with at times, but over all, had a great bike ride--negative split the bike times and finished in 5 hours 35 minutes. He passed 7 people in his age group on the bike so was now 55th out of 400 or so.

Around 2:00 p.m., we saw Brad back at transition getting ready to go out on the run course. By now, the temps were in the high 70's-low 80's and sunny. A really nice "feel" though because there was no humidity. He left transition rather quickly (and after a quick change of sunglasses because the "sunscreen volunteer" applied it to his glasses :-() he was off on the run course! He was looking and feeling strong! He ran the first three plus miles of the marathon at a 7 and a half minute pace! Angela and I had been talking the whole day making sure Brad was sticking to his race plan, and he was. He was feeling really good on the run and was able to average 8 and a half minute miles for the whole 26.2 mile course. The run course passed Churchill Downs and the University and was a two loop course. Chet and Todd rode bikes and followed Brad on the run course for almost half of it. The rest of us saw Brad two times before we moved to the finish line. After 10 and a half hours, Brad finally made the turn heading for the finish line. It was a little after 5: 30 p.m. and we were so excited to see him earlier than his last IM finish. He ran the marathon in 3 hours and 41 minutes!!!! AN INCREDIBLE finish that put him 25th in his age group! Brad high-fived us all as he ran down the finish line at 10:38:02! He finished in the top 7% and 183rd out of the 2,400 athletes overall. Although this time did not qualify him for a "Kona" slot at the National Championships in Hawaii this October, he was a lot closer than last year. A matter of two minutes separated the last 10 age-groupers that were close to qualifying. He raced Louisville like he wanted to and is proud of his times and overall finish. The last photo of Josie and Brad was after the race having some pizza to celebrate. And, like we did in Tempe, some of us went back to watch the final finishers cross the finish line at midnight! It was a fun IM! Lots of rest and relaxation for the next few days before Brad continues with his training!

Thanks, again, for all your support!