Ironman Maryland 2014

I signed up to volunteer for the inaugural Ironman Maryland awhile back. The race was on Saturday so my morning started out nice and early. I had to get up and be out of the house by 7:20am so that I could meet up with some friends in Springfield. The race was held in Cambridge, MD & our commute would be about 1 hour & 53 minutes according to Google. Our volunteer shift did not start until noon but we wanted to leave extra early to beat any traffic and to get there early enough to get a bite to eat &check the place out.

Thankfully there was very little traffic on the bridge. I do not remember what we paid the last time we crossed it (2008?) but it now costs $6 yuck! but it's not as bad as the $13 it cost to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

We got to Cambridge with a little under 3 hours to spare.

We had to walk a few miles to get to our check in area. It was nice to walk and see some of the historic sites.

so many cute houses

We arrived to our check in station at Great Marsh Park. This park is located off of the Choptank River & this was where the bike and run transition areas were.

 

As soon as we got to our area and I really wished I had brought a hat with me because we were going to be in direct sunlight ALL day. The only thing I had were my sunglasses & sunscreen. 

hundreds of athlete bags lined in rows by number 

It was a bit confusing at first but we quickly formed a system that worked. A volunteer would stand between our area and bike dismount area & as soon as an athlete would get off the bike & he was able to read their number, he would yell out their number to us so we could get their bag in time for the hand off .

our first customer for the day 

Funny how empty the bike area was when we first got there.

about 2 1/2 hours later...

each person was given an Ironman Finisher bike seat cover

We finished up just after 5pm. We decided to go to the finish line area on our way back to the car. I am amazed at some of the athletes. I took this picture of Margaret (at least that is what the people cheering her on were calling her) who had to be at least 60 years old. It completely blows my mind that she swam 2.4 miles, rode her bike 112 miles and was in the middle of running 26.2 miles to finish. My body hurts just reading what I typed. Kudos to her! 

rock on Margaret !

I was also able to snap some "interesting" looking spectator pictures - LOL!

I would like to check out more of Cambridge & maybe a day spent in Annapolis in the future. A relaxing weekend getaway may be in store for me & the hubs. Such a pretty place.