Ironman Chattanooga: Adventures in Race Spectating

The last weekend of September always seems like a perfect time for a road trip. This past weekend, 10 friends from my awesome triathlon club, along with my high school best friend, Kristen, competed in Ironman Chattanooga, which is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 116 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run that all need to be completed within 17 hours.

Armed with TimBits and one of my favorite fellow road-trippers (who is known to provide in-car entertainment), Lori and I hit the road for the long drive from Michigan to Tennessee. With the exception of hitting some terrible traffic for literally the entire state of Ohio and navigating ourselves to the wrong hotel that left us in the Chattanooga ghetto with no gas, we finally made it to our destination in one piece.

The day before the race, we roamed Ironman village, spent a combined total of $150.00 on an assortment of hats, checked in with our friends that were competing with good luck hugs and high fives, enjoyed some beverages with fellow cheerleaders, and emerged ourselves in the excitement of the Ironman atmosphere without experiencing any pre-race anxiety that comes along with actually participating in the event. 

Turns out that being a spectator can be just as fun as racing!

 Race morning started out with a very early wake-up call. Because the swim took place in a river, the actual start of the race was 2.4 miles upstream. Lori and I had brought our mountain bikes down to Tennessee with us so we could make better use of our cheerleading abilities by scattering ourselves along the race route in places that would be scarce in spectators. Our original plan was to bike the 2.4 miles up the river walk to the swim start, but because I received a text that said that route was closed, plan B involved following other bikers through town in hopes that we would eventually find the swim start. Unfortunately, Lori and I quickly lost track of these bikers and accidentally ended up biking a few miles on the freeway shoulder in the pre-sunrise darkness. I jokingly shouted to Lori above the freeway traffic “my mom would not be pleased with me about this!” and it turns out that wasn’t the first time that weekend I ended up saying those words.

 

Because the Chattanooga swim was in a river, athletes jumped off a dock two-by-two, which meant that athletes filed into one giant long line that seemed to perhaps ease some of the pre-race anxiety and excitement. Hugs and high-fives were given in mass amounts and I had a few secret teary-eyed moments that I kept under wraps when wishing Kristen the awesome race that I knew she had worked so hard to deserve.

Swim start with Kristen.

After the swim start, Lori and I hopped on our bikes and made it to the swim finish in time to continue the cheering. Kristen and our other friends exited the water with all smiles after a blazing fast swim, so Lori and I decided to grab a quick brunch and I made it a point to drink as much coffee as possible because I had quickly realized that spectating an Ironman was going to be an endurance event of its own. After brunch, we hopped on our bikes and rode along the sidewalk on the bike course to find the perfect spot to set up our cheerleading headquarters. As we were riding out of town, I noticed that the surrounding area quickly turned into an industrial zone followed by a low-income residential zone. Riding past some brownstones (that we later found out were the “Chattanooga projects”), along with receiving some questioning glances, we arrived at a corner and when Lori asked me if I wanted to keep riding, I suggested that my gut was telling me to stay put.

We spent the next few hours stationed at this corner which ended up being the perfect location for several reasons. One reason is that the bikers made a sharp left turn at the corner, which meant that they were out of the aero position and were slowing down, which gave us ample time to exchange a few words of encouragement beyond the typical “looking strong!” chant. There was supposed to be an entire crew of Ironman volunteers at this corner, but unfortunately, not one of them showed up. Lori and I made quick friends with three other cheerleaders that were stationed at this corner which helped pass the time as we waited for our friends to bike pass while spreading as much sparkle as possible.

At this point in the day, we had started to hear of the news that someone had attempted to sabotage the bike course by pouring oil and throwing tacks on the road, which explained the confusing bike split times on the athlete tracker and unfortunately, we quickly realized that a handful of our racing friends were affected by this. Lori and I stood on that corner for hours, shouting and screaming til our voices were gone for every athlete that biked by us like they were one of our own friends or teammates.

Cheerleading teamwork at it's finest.

After everyone was accounted for, we biked back to the finish line to touch base with fellow club members that had also made the trek to Chattanooga for cheerleading purposes and family members of those that were racing. We biked across the bridge to catch athletes out on the run course, ran a quick errand that I had committed to the night before after being overserved at the bar, got caught on our bikes in a rain storm, and made it back to town to high-five Kristen as she crossed the finish line at her first Ironman.  She was the first of our friends to finish, so the next couple hours were spent tracking our club members and standing along the finish chute to cheer them in as well.

At the end of the day, Lori and I were cold, wet and exhausted, but filled-to-the-brim with inspiration, excitement, and pride for not only our friends, but for every athlete that took on Ironman Chattanooga that day. On the outside, a 140.6 mile triathlon might seem crazy. And let me tell you, that is exactly what Ironman is- crazy wonderful. crazy inspiring. crazy amazing. and crazy contagious.