Lap 2

I made the trip down to Panama City Beach with AB this weekend to watch Ironman Florida and sign up for my 2nd lap around the Ironman Florida course. 2009 is gonna be a great year. I would have much rather been racing, but it was also a great day to be a spectator and watch the race unfold as Tom Evans shattered the course record.

A few highlights of the trip were getting to met IronSherpa DeeDee, seeing Wes half way through the marathon and seeing Lana as she headed out for lap number two on the marathon. I looked for all the other blogger peeps, and I'm sure you passed right in front of me, but I missed yall in the chaos . Congrats to all of you!

The registration process was a bit different this go 'round. In 2006 when I signed up for lap number 1, I got to the race site about 6:45am. There were hardly any others around and I was about 10th in line. This year, I got to the Boardwalk a little after 7am and there were 2 lines already. Each line was at least a couple hundred yards long. One line was for the volunteers and the other was for the rest of us. They started registering the volunteers around 7:15-7:30. They finished with them around 8:15 and our line started slowly moving soon afterwards. The actual registration only took maybe five minutes once I got in the tent. A volunteer took my vital info, credit card number, explained the process and sent me on my way. After registering, I headed straight over to the Boardwalk and made my reservations at the condos for next year. Now all I have to do is get my a$$ in gear and get fit for an Ironman again. I'm glad I have a whole year....

I took a ton of pictures. Here are a few of the leaders.

Tom Evans looking strong just out of T2.

Torbjorn Sindballe a few minutes behind

Bella coming in from the bike course headed for T2

Tom making the turn at mile 13.

Bella at mile 13 on her way to win number 5 in Florida.

Tom Evans a few 100 yards from the finish line and a record smashing time.

Happy Training,

TJ