Summer Trip- Pescara Day 2-3 Half Ironman

The day of the race was incredibly hot.  Arnie didn't start his race until around 1pm.  He had to be at the race a couple hours before that so we all walked down there to hang out with him.  The triathlon starts with the swim.  I waited at the exit point of the water to take a picture while I sent the girls ahead to where Arnie's bike was stationed to wait.  It was approximately 500 meters from the water to the transition area and there was a ton of people milling about.  I didn't want to have to navigate that with four girls in tow.

Once Arnie was off on the bike, we had approximately 3 hours before we saw him again on the run.  We used that time to go swimming.  My girls wanted to go to a pool with a waterslide instead of going to the beach, which not only cost money to get into, also required the purchase of these cheesy pink swim caps.  The other catch was that the pool wasn't open for a half an hour after we purchased our tickets.  So ice cream was purchased to cool the impatient, hot children down.

For the run portion of the race, we managed to position ourselves near the finish line and in a tiny bit of shade.  Arnie had to run past us four times before he got to go to the finish line.  It took him a total of 7 hours.  We are so proud of him.  This was a major accomplishment as quite a few people couldn't finish the race due to the high heat that day.

Pre Race Arnie

Getting ready for the swim

There they go!

Coming out of the water

Off on a 56 mile bike ride through the Italian countryside

trying to stay out of the sun :)

Bethany relaxing in the shade

Kaitlyn anxiously watching for her dad

Arnie throwing a very sweaty hat at Jessica

Malia drawing in the sand as we wait for Arnie to finish

Jessica frolicking in the waves

The cabanas in Pescara

Rounding the turn to the finish!

Triumphant Finisher!

The pedestrian bridge at night

The harbor at night

Arnie with his finishing medal