Location: Madison, Wisconsin
7:00 am:
My friend Anna begins Ironman Madison, her first triathlon.
I am asleep in my bed.
8:27 am:
Anna finishes the swimming portion of said triathlon and jumps on a bike to begin pedaling 112 miles.
I am still asleep.
10:34 am:
Anna is still pedaling furiously.
I get out of bed and make my way to my couch, stopping for a cup of coffee as I pass the kitchen.
11:32 am:
Anna...pedaling.
I make significant headway on my Entourage marathon and eat a bowl of ravioli.
12:18 pm:
Anna keeps pedaling her way through 112 miles and curses the world.
I watch Brett Favre throw his first touchdown as a Jet and curse the world.
2:20 pm:
Anna...you get the picture.
I answer a knock on the door and meet my neighbor for the first time. He (cute, late twenties, tall, wearing clean clothes) wants to borrow a "cooking brush." I (cute, late twenties, tall, wearing paint spattered pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt that says "gay? fine by me") tell him I have a broom. He reiterates, miming a brushing motion with his hand. I brilliantly reply "we don't cook much," and invite him inside while I rummage through the kitchen. He leaves sans brush. I drink more coffee and wonder why I don't have a boyfriend. I think about taking a shower.
3:55 pm:
Anna finishes biking 112 miles and starts a fucking marathon.
I meet my sister, K, at a coffee shop near the race route. When we walk inside, a small boy wearing a cape screams "MY DADDY BOUGHT ME SOME PINK AND BLUE ICE CREAM DO YOU WANT SOME I LOVE ICE CREAM AND I CAN FLY." We decide that we do, indeed, want some ice cream. K and I hurry to finish the ice cream before we see Anna.
5:34 pm:
Anna runs past us! K and I scream and cheer with appropriate awe and glee. Anna looks great!
6:03 pm:
K and I wander the race route splitting our time fairly evenly between cheering for the Ironman athletes and mocking the Madison natives who are out for their evening jog. Amateurs!
6:17 pm:
We see Anna again! She still looks great.
7:05 pm:
Another Anna sighting! She's got roughly 12 miles left and says she might be walking the rest of the way. I point out that I've been walking around all day and find it to be a fine method of transportation. I give Anna a hug and tell her I'll see her at the finish line.
8:06 pm:
Anna is still moving!
K and I go for a 3 mile run. Whooo-eee are we beat! We congratulate ourselves on our good time (30 min.) and make plans to run again sometime. In the future. Someday.
9:03 pm:
Go Anna go!
I ice my broken foot. Yes, I strained my arch WALKING around WATCHING Anna compete in a triathlon. I am humiliated. And sore. I blame the flip-flops! THE FLIP-FLOPS I TELL YOU. I watch more Entourage and eat a popsicle to console myself.
10:00 pm:
Anna is runnnnnnnnning.
I convince my brother, B, to drive me the 7 blocks to the finish line because my foot is so sore. I promise B and K not to embarrass them by limping or showing any other signs of weakness in front of Anna.
10:09 pm:
Anna crosses the finish line alongside her husband Jon. They are beaming. They look tired. They look great! I snap a few pictures and give Anna a hug. Anna attempts to thank me for cheering, but can't string enough words together to form a coherent sentence. Jon stumbles towards me and invites me to visit them in Minnesota. They've just been exercising for 15 consecutive hours, and they're worrying about being polite. Sweet Lord. I say goodbye and watch them stagger into the sunset as I turn and begin to limp back to my apartment.
*fin*
~M
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