Chris signed up for the 2021 Ironman in Sacramento. The story is here, although the story is not the Ironman, but the highly unusual storm that cancelled it (with photos of how our place looks with that much rain). So this year was the make-up for last year’s cancelled event. As I looked back for this post I found lots of other Ironman posts from previous years. Those can be found by entering Ironman in the search field of the website.

Chris and Meryl are now living in Boise so they drove down here for the event. Dan and Chris had been to Raley Field in Sacramento the previous two days to check in and then to deliver the bike and gear.

On Sunday we arrived at Raley Field (now known as Sutter Health Park) at 5:30 a.m. School buses were lined up to take athletes to the swim start on the American River.

We got there at 5:30. I took this photo at 6:25 while Chris and Meryl were waiting patiently in line. Ummm…how many school buses are needed to transport over 2600 athletes? The answer would be more than the 24 which were available.

Their turn finally came at almost 7 a.m., but Meryl didn’t get on. It didn’t take long for those in charge to realize that they weren’t going to be able to allow spectators to accompany athletes. Chris finally started the swim at 7:30. There was a rolling start which means a small number of athletes entered the water at at time. They wear chips that record time at several points thoughout the day. So the actual race time is recorded for each individual, and it doesn’t depend on them all starting at once.

This is a photo I took on one of our many trips across the Tower Bridge which spans the Sacramento River. The dock is where the swimmers would exit the water. They ran up that ramp…

…across the road, on the sidewalk, all the way into the stadium where the bikes were parked. That seemed like a very long transition, especially running all that way barefoot on cold concrete after swimming in the cold river. Chris’ swim time was 47:35. That’s him on the right already peeling off his wetsuit with the orange sleeves.

The transition time was 15:21 and we waited outside the stadium to see him start the bike portion. He is #1890 on the left and this was just after 8:30.

How do I know these times? As spectators we are not allowed to offer any kind of aid to our athlete, but thanks to modern tech, we can monitor him at all times. We downloaded the app that revealed all the stats recorded by the chip Chris wore and that info is still accessible on my phone.

This screenshot from my phone shows the swim course and part of the run course. The #3 with all those timers is the Raley Field area. The green flag is the start on the American River. The narrow red line shows where they swam down-river into the Sacramento River and got out just north of the Tower Bridge.

This map shows the bike course. The athletes took their bikes out of the racks in the stadium at Raley Field and rode this course twice to complete the 112 miles.

We saw Chris on his way north on the first lap on this course. I took these photos at about 11:40.

We watched for the chartreuse socks and white helmet to find him. Those socks are hard to see in this photo but we could pick him out (third from left).

After we watched Chris ride south again we knew that we had a couple of hours before we’d see him again. We walked into the stadium to check it out. This is where the bikes were staged. All were gone by this point and all those bags are the transition bags that hold discarded swim gear and running shoes, etc for the next stage. Notice the flags to the left of the Tower Bridge. They are straight out indicating a strong northwest wind. The athletes had to contend with that on all of the cycling course. As we watched the app we could see the average miles per hour time slow at each of the check points on the course when Chris was riding north.

This was about 3:00 when Chris finished the bike course and headed to the transition for the run.

This is the marathon course. There is a green rectangle at the start. The course goes south for a quick out-and-back and then north and east along the American River bike trail. They turn back and make 2 laps around the capital where it is marked in yellow and finish on a third lap in front of the capitol.

3:11. Just after leaving the stadium and slowing to greet Meryl.

3:21. Coming back from that short out-and-back before crossing the Tower Bridge. The chartreuse hat goes with the socks so we can spot him better.

Notice that the wind is still blowing strong. It was probably worse for cycling, but the strong wind takes its toll on runners too.

4:27. Running through Old Sac.

6:51. This is the first time around that loop. Chartreuse hat and socks going into the crosswalk.

7:44. This is just before the finish line. There was such a crowd it was hard to get even this spot for a photo.

Shortly after the race. Notice the scab on Chris’ cheek and his knee. Six days ago Chris was on one his final training rides around Boise. He was in the bike lane and a car made a right turn right in front of him. He collided with the car! He was so lucky that there wasn’t more damage to himself or his bike. The bandages came off only this morning.

Chris and Meryl drove home and Dan and I went into the stadium to pick up the bike and gear bags. This is what it looks like when those racks are full of bikes.

Chris and Meryl are both signed up for a half-Ironman in southern California in the beginning of December. We’ll all be there!