"I Think I Just Blinded Tim DeBoom"

That's what I wrote in a text to Jean Sunday morning. Here's why:
Poor guy. He was just trying to make a living.

Last Sunday was Ironman Kansas 70.3. The full Ironman distance is 140.6 miles (2.4 mi. swim, 112 mi. bike, 26.2 mi. run), so 70.3 is what used to be called a half-Iron. Last year's top two men's finishers each went on to win a world championship (one at the 70.3 distance, the other at the full IM distance - that's the race in Kona, HI). And this year's field included Tim DeBoom (the temporarily blind man above), who won Kona in 2001 and 2002, and Chrissy Wellington, the 2-time defending IM world champ, who has never lost a triathlon. So, there were some of the best endurance athletes in the world there.

For obvious reasons, I decided to head over to Lawrence and watch the race. For not-so-obvious reasons, I volunteered to help clean up after the race was over. I guess I'm just a sucker for a free t-shirt.

I missed the start of the swim, but I was able to get some pictures of the pros coming out of the transition from swim to bike. You've already seen what I did to poor Tim DeBoom. Here's the eventual men's winner, Luke Bell:
And Wellington (foreground), who would get a flat tire out on course: After the bike, they run a half marathon. Bell led a tight four-man group out on the run:

With DeBoom, evidently recovered from my flash photography, hitting the run a few minutes later:

This is Timothy O'Donnell, who set an unbelievable run pace, leading with just a few miles to go:

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of the end of the men's race because they came in just too dang fast. With 3 miles to go, O'Donnell had a lead of almost a minute, but Bell kept coming and O'Donnell faded as the sun came out and he paid for his blazing pace. Bell ended up winning by a little more than a minute. DeBoom developed a leg injury, but he managed to finish 12th overall.

On the women's side, Wellington recovered from her flat tire to lead at the start of the run.

Her main competition came from Pip Taylor, an Australian who is using Lawrence, KS as her training base this year.

But Wellington was simply awesome. Even with the flat tire, she won by almost 5 minutes. Here she is entering the finishing chute:

And, yes, that's some poor soul on the right dressed as the Cowardly Lion. There were other Wizard of Oz characters too. Now, I volunteered to help clean up after the event, which I happily did with no expectation of compensation (aside from my stylin' tee), but if you want me to dress up in that outfit on a day like that, it's gotta be a paying gig.

Anyway, the pros were not the only ones racing Sunday. In fact there were about 2,000 people participating. There were people of virtually all shapes and sizes, like this guy in the hat, who, if you look closely, has a prosthetic left lower leg:

Pretty cool, dude.

And here is a neighbor of ours, Tony, who was just incredible. He finished 73rd among the age-groupers (non-pros).

One more thing: Wellington's an interesting person. There's the fact that she's never been beaten in a triathlon by a woman, which is pretty impressive on its own. But what gets her so much support from tri fans is that, when she's finished kicking everyone's butts, she hangs around until everyone finishes, greeting people as they finish, giving them the finisher's medals they've earned, signing autographs and posing for pictures with virtually anyone who asks. And smiling the whole time.

For a full Ironman, the race doesn't end until midnight, and she's there to the end. Fortunately for her last weekend, a 70.3 doesn't take that long. And in Tony's case, she didn't have to wait long at all. It may be hard to see, but here's Tony getting his medal from the best woman triathlete in the world:

Warm day; cool people...

And I really am sorry about that flash in the eye, Tim.