The Brazil CrazyMan Has Finally Arrived!

Race morning starts early for Ironman participants. . . one article in a triathlon magazine recommended waking up FIVE hours before race start in order to put in plenty of carb calories and get those body systems processing. I can't imagine eating breakfast at 2:00 am. We did wake up by 4:00, however, for Dan to get coffee and breakfast and leave for the starting line at 5:00. . There, the guys turned in their Special Needs bags (which they receive at the half-way point of the bike and the run), got body-marked with their race numbers, and finished prepping their bicycles.

I got to see them one last time when we all walked down to the beach and they prayed together before disappearing into the mass of wet-suited and capped bodies.

The sky was just beginning to lighten when the race began. The open water start is always something to see - more than a thousand athletes high-stepping their way through the surf before diving in and starting their strokes. When they are charging and splashing, it reminds me of a nature film - the hungry walrus has just arrived on the edge of the iceberg and all the seals leap into the sea, splashing and flailing. I try not to think about what happens next. Here is the flotilla of boats, waiting to guard and guide the swimmers through the rough waters. Lots of whistles and paddles are used when whole groups of swimmers start to be pulled the wrong direction by the strong current.

I thought this scene looked more like an army exercise than a sporting event. . .

The sun finally rises!!

Half-way through the swim, the athletes have to come back to shore and run across a timing mat before heading back out to sea. They came out of the water far down the beach from the buoys and were very disoriented, giving testimony to the rough conditions out in the water.

Dan came out of the water far later than he hoped to. . .From the disgusted look on his face, I could tell that he had a miserable swim. Knowing what a long day lay ahead of him, I prayed that God would help him recuperate quickly and transition to the next phase.

For me, the IronMan consists of long periods of intense athlete-watching , straining to get a glimpse of my husband, and long periods of waiting and wondering. This was the last glimpse I had of Dan leaving the bike area before a six hour absence. . .

I went back to the hotel, messed around on the internet a bit, tried to dry my jeans which had gotten soaked by unexpected waves, slept a little, bought a cup of coffee, and then went back out at 12:30 to watch the race go by. I knew that, in the best case scenario, Andrew could come by at 1:15, so I kept my eyes trained for his jersey. At 1:56 I saw an athlete limping along the road. . . same height as Andrew, same color jersey and bike shorts. . . "Andrew, is that you??" He came over to the side of the road with a sad tale. . . He was on track with a personal record in both the swim and the bike when, at mile 75, he slid while going around a hair-pin turn and went down on his bike. Though he didn't hit his head, Andrew scraped his arm and shoulder but took the main impact on his hip. He was able to finish the bike but knew that he was out of the race as soon as he started the run. Shooting pain in his leg would not allow him to run. What a disappointment for him as he had been on track to win one of the coveted Kona Championship spots. We were so sorry for him, but he handled his disappointment very gracefully.

This was the next time that I saw Dan, smiling his way through the beginning of the run. . . When I asked him how he was doing, he grinned and said, "Great! I am running now!" A true marathoner!

Here is the next time I saw Dan, still looking chipper at the half-way point! Good to see him smiling!

You know, the Ironman just goes on and on. . . hours and hours of running, running, running for Dan and hours and hours of waiting, waiting, waiting on the side of the curb for me. . . To entertain myself, I read people's names (Fabian, Jorge, Alejandra, Gustav) and took long exposure pictures of people's feet as they ran by and ran by and ran by. . .

We finally saw Dan as he got his final bracelet and began his last 10K. Andrew and I then moved down to the finish line and watched people cross the line. What an emotional moment it is for each and every finishing participant! I found myself tearing up, over and over again. And, unlike marathon finishes, IronMan allows friends and family to run the final stretch and cross the finish line with their loved ones. We watched people cross with their spouses or small children, surrounded by entire families, joined by their best friends. It reminded me how every person has a long story behind their race.

For the first time, I got to join Dan as he ran across the finish line! Andrew captured the moment for us. What a fun way to celebrate our twentieth anniversary trip! Dan finished with a personal best - 13:15 - almost two hours faster than his previous IronMan! Celebration!!!

A Rainy Day in Floriana

The day was pretty much like this - grey skies, low clouds, periodic showers - not much of a day for touring the island. . . Thus, we laid low and allowed the guys to get all of their gear together, their bikes checked-in, and the bodies loaded with carbohydrates!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day!

Ironman Prep

So much fun that we could meet Dan's high school friend, Andrew Strong, here in Brazil for them to do the Ironman together. A hundred years ago, Dan and Andrew both played football at Memorial and met regularly to lift weights in the off-season (at a time when few football players cared to work between seasons). How fitting that the two of them are still working hard, going the extra mile (or 140 miles), setting crazy goals to keep themselves active and challenged. . . Although swimming is both of their LEAST favorite event, they braved the chilly water this morning to go out for a test swim. Meanwhile, I occupied myself on the beach. . . . (Pretty much, all I need is a camera, a computer, or a book/notebook to keep myself busy for hours!)

Most of the competitors here are South American, but we have run into a few English speakers. This fellow is a Marine, stationed in Hawaii. The guys sat around, telling Ironman war stories for a while. . .

How nice to have a friend with us to document the fact that I was here!! :-)

After their swim warm-up, the guys went up to the pool area to rinse the salt out of their wet suits. Of course, a drama ensued. . . .

Andrew was using one of the hoses, but then decided to help Dan peel off his wet suit.

While he was pulling and tugging on the suit, Andrew didn't realize that he was dousing the nice Brazilian family, sitting fully-clothed on the lounge chairs. He took their exclamations to be shouts of encouragement for the big wet suit tug.Andrew, apologizing profusely for their unexpected shower. . . Those crazy Americans. . . . :-)

The guys then went out for a short spin to test out their freshly assembled bikes.

Dan hopes to cut some significant time off his bike leg with the bike that Andrew generously brought down for him to use.

Meanwhile, I hung out by the pool, enjoying the Brazilian sunshine and hotel wi-fi. . . We can't all be heroes :-)!

The Brazilians go for espresso and SMALL cups of coffee. Even a double cappucino does not equal even a normal cup of Burns coffee. . . We spent some time in the Expo, looking at the Ironman paraphenalia and equipment. Here Andrew and Dan are checking out a $8,500 bike. . . We won't be taking one of THOSE home with us.

Unfortunately, the picture that I missed taking today was one documenting our amazing seafood dinner- salad, shrimp hush puppies, stuffed crabs, Portuguese codfish specialty, shrimp prepared in four different ways (with and without shells), rice, french fries, vegetables. . .. It was an amazing amount of food. Uggh. . . good thing it was TWO nights before the big race!

Mate and Onward and Upward

When we first arrived and asked about Argentine customs, Paul said, "It would be impossible to overstate the importance of the drink 'mate' (mah-tay) in this culture." The drink is shared between friends and family, and the value and depth of social events is often gauged in thermoses of mate. The drink is a combination of leaves, steeped in boiling water (like tea) but drunk through a straw with a filter on the end. The host pours hot water into the special mate cup and takes the first sips, adjusting the heat and taste for the guests, then passes the cup to the first guest, who partakes and enjoys, then passes it back to the host, who refills it for the next guest. A true social ritual upon which friendships are defined and outsiders are underlined.

After hearing about this ritual, I told Paul that I would really like to taste mate before I left Argentina. So, he had a thermos waiting for us when we arrived this morning. What did I think of it? It tasted a bit like really strong tea, but mostly like weedy grass. As a matter of fact, it tasted a lot like the herbal remedy someone gave me for "cleansing" after I had kidney stones. I could tell that my stomach was going to hurt if I drank a whole lot of it! But, I imagine it would grow on you if you drank it with your closest friends. . . (or you would simply have a really clean system. .We rode TAM airlines to Florianapolis (affectionately called Floriana by locals. . . ) We had a change and short lay-over in Porto Alegre. In the waiting area, there were enormous glass windows giving view to an incredible sky line. People were all lined up with their fast food, just gazing out these windows. It reminded me of the study that Kim once mentioned: People can stand living in very small spaces, clustered closely together, as long as periodically they had a view of wide-open spaces. I believe that we were witnessing the longing for that wide-open breathing room. This is just a snippet of the large panorama. . .

The Branch Family

Because of our visit, the Branch kids - Linda and Joseph- got a school holiday (you are welcome :-)!). We enjoyed hanging out with the whole family - taking the train, having a nice lunch, walking around Argentine neighborhoods, etc. . . They are a great family. We only wish our kids had been with us to enjoy the interaction, too!

Joseph and Linda, modeling with some exquisite "mate" (prounounced mah-tay) cups.

In the early evening, we traveled with Paul back to the church. . . Paul asked us what our main impression of Buenes Aires was. Without blinking an eye, we answered, "BIG". With a population of 15 million, Buenes Aires is a HUGE metropolis (a bigger population than the country of Kazakstan!). It just goes on and on and on . . . we walked a number of blocks, traveled thirty minutes by bus, then traveled thirty minutes by subway, and we had only covered one small corner of the city. There are people everywhere (just TRY to fit one more person on the subway at rush hour - even I couldn't fit on there) and big city crime problems. A guy was eye-ing my camera bag at the train station. Good thing I had my body guard, Elizabeth, with me :-)! It was an interesting place to visit, but it would take a huge adjustment to live in such a large city.

We spent the evening attending a Bible study, led by Julio, the main pastor of Paul's church. We enjoyed meeting the people and seeing the animated personalities during the study (I couldn't understand a word. Dan caught twenty to sixty percent of the words but couldn't get the flow of conversation. Spanish is buried somewhere at the back of his mind these days. . .) It was still encouraging to see the people, working through real life issues and applying God's Word to their lives. Afterwards, we went out for flatbread pizza with Julio and Paul. A wonderful and encouraging evening!

Argentina Greeting

Because of the recent swine flu problems, we were required to wear face masks and gloves as we exited the aircraft. We waited in a long line in a stuffy hallway, breathing like sleestaks behind our thick masks. Once we walked past the thermal imaging camera and they saw that we weren't burning balls of fire, we were allowed to take off our protective gear. I wondered if the procedure would have made a difference as we were all closed up in the aircraft together for the previous twelve hours. . .

No swine flu here! It was wonderful to be greeted at the airport by our friend, Paul Branch, who has served with WO here in Argentina for the past number of years. We had a great morning catching up. Elizabeth then joined us for a very enjoyable lunch. Argentine traditional food?? STEAK! wow. We had a fabulous steak dinner, topped off with FLAN for dessert. Could be worse!!

As my sleepless nights were beginning to catch up with me, we went back to the hotel for a quick nap before our evening meetings. (No jet lag worries - though the flight is really long, the time change is only two hours!) The nap did me wonders. . . We then traveled to the church where Paul serves and met with a number of Argentine leaders, pastors, and teachers. It was a great meeting as we shared experiences in church planting and presbytery development. We enjoyed meeting these guys who clearly love the Lord and are passionate about their ministries. An encouraging cultural exchange. It would be wonderful to find ways to link our fields more in the future!

One other cultural note: kissing is a big part of this culture. Paul didn't warn us in time, but we caught on pretty fast! We managed to avoid big, smacky ones, though, since they were just meeting us. . . .

South America Bound!

The to-do list between adventure trips was a little lengthy: picture editing, DVD burning, laundry processing, grocery shopping, apartment cleaning, box packing, raincoat purchasing, suitcase packing. . not much time for sleep, reflection, or mental preparation. Dan and the kids got back from Corpus Christi in the late afternoon, giving Dan even LESS time for his big trip preparation. We did manage to visit with the kids a little, get the Ironman gear in the duffle bag, and arrive at the airport in plenty of time for our all-night flight to Argentina! South American adventure has begun!

Northwestern U - Day 4

I was so glad to be able to catch the shuttle and attend church with Jackie and her friends this morning. A great worship time with a good community! I can see why Jackie likes this particular church. Good that she finally feels comfortable somewhere!

This is the high-rise apartment where Jackie will live off-campus next year. It is great that they already have access to it and can start moving their things over the next couple of weeks. An answer to prayer as we didn't know where Jackie was going to store her things for the summer! The apartment is directly across the street from campus and is actually closer to the center of campus than Jackie's current residential college. A great set-up for her developing life. . . She will enjoy the close proximity to Whole Foods Market, being able to invite friends for game/movie nights, doing non-quartered laundry, having peaceful sleep and study places, saving some housing money, and NOT having to eat at the dining halls!

Jackie's current residential college - Chapin. We are all thankful it is still standing after the fire two weeks ago!

Northwestern U - Day 3

A morning of shopping at Old Orchard. Fun to find a few fresh summer tops for Jackie -- a great treat for both of us! Then, an afternoon of coffee with some more of Jackie's buddies (no documentation, unfortunately). These girls have all become really close this year, learning, growing, and sharing their lives together. They don't know how they will manage without each other over the summer!

We thought that we were going to drop by a party thrown by Jackie's Russian club before the Chapin Formal. But, apparently, they were all on Central Asian time and didn't make it to the firepit until after the formal started!! Rachel (Jackie's room-mate), Jackie, and I still had a nice evening stroll across campus, though. Pictured here is THE ROCK - a major Northwestern tradition. It is painted (almost daily) by groups on campus, serves as an announcement board, and must be guarded continuously. Jackie is going to spend the night in a tent by the rock with her room-mate next week, guarding it while it is painted as a backdrop for Much Ado About Nothing.I just had to insert this picture. I thought it was mildly disturbing and was quite worried for these ducks. Maybe the fish are harmless, but they resembled huge sharks, lurking below the surface!

The girls from the end of Alpha Hall, ready for the Chapin Formal!!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!!!

The formal didn't even start until 9:00 pm, so I had no problem going back to the apartment and doing photo work and laundry for the late evening. I was happy to be able to do something to relieve some stress in Jackie's busy life! And Jackie had a great time. How fun it was for her to come home at 1:30 am and tell me all about it! Those moments don't happen often any more. . .