IRONMAN Lake Placid 2017- Part Three

 Bring 'Em Home.

The Midnight Finishers.

 Part of every Ironman event 

is going back

 for the last part of the evening.
The Professionals are present.
The Finishers are present.
The Families are present.
Cheering and praying 
their loved ones home.
As a family we prayed 
at every hour of the race for Dan.
Safety. Strength. 
Endurance. 
Lack of discouragement.
No equipment break down.
Mental focus.
The Lord's protection.

Bright lights.

Bright orange MMRF 
Bam Bam sticks.

Loud rock music.
I watched the Live Feed 
as I stayed with the littles asleep.
I could see our family down
 at the fence at the finish.

Raucous cheering and Mike Reilly

 on the microphone.
YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!
as the last athletes 
came across the finish line.
A race against the clock.
16 hours in.
16 1/2 hours in.
The clock winding down 
to the 17 hour time limit to finish.
Knowing that the first finisher 
was nine hours ahead of you.
Brent McMahon - 8 hours 13 minutes
Andy Potts- 8 hours 37 minutes
 They are at the finish line
 handing out medals. 

So how did this race get started?
"Whoever finishes first, 

We'll call him the Ironman.

During an awards banquet 

for the Waikiki Swim Club,

 John Collins, a Naval Officer
 stationed in Hawaii, 

and his fellow athletes began debating 

which athletes were the fittest: swimmers,

 bikers, or runners. Later, he and his wife Judy,

 who had both participated in new competitions 

known as triathlons in San Diego, 

decided to combine three

 of the toughest existing

 endurance races on the island. 

On February 18, 1978, 

15 competitors, including Collins, 

came to the shores of Waikiki

 to take on the first-ever IRONMAN challenge."  

Ironman.com/triathlon/history 

But, it was pretty apparent that our family came 

home with another focus about finishing the race.

The looking for those 

"still coming".

Where are they?

Will they make it?
Gather them before time runs out.

Get 'em home.

The great cloud of witnesses.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so

 great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside

 every weight, and sin which clings so closely, 

and let us run with endurance

 the race that is set before us."

Hebrew 12:1

Time to finish well.

And cheer on EVERYONE 

to the finish line.

A special shout out to Tom and Debbie Ziebart-

 (Concordia River Forest Grads)

 for this wonderful event. 

Tom is Operations Manager for Ironman.

They are members of  Faith Lutheran Church - LCMS 

in Eustis, Florida.