Ironman North Carolina: Finish and Final Thoughts

• I think seeing my dad finish might have been the highlight of my whole day. I know he didn't feel great after the half last year, and I worried about him all day, but he seemed to be doing great and in good spirits the few times I saw him along the course. I did start to worry when it seemed like he should have been done but I just kept waiting and waiting and eventually he showed up. The sense of pride on his face was so evident as he made his way down the finisher's chute, and it filled me with pride too. There were so many times I was out on the course where I was both simultaneously amazed by how well I was getting through it, and by the fact that my dad was also out there getting through the same course. It just amazed me and I was so happy and so proud of him for finishing. I heard Mike Reilly tell my dad that he is an Ironman and deep down we both knew he was.
• After my obsessing about being called an Ironman at the finish line of my first full, and all my insisting that I did NOT want to hear those words this time...my wish came true. For two hours I listened to Mike Reilly call hundreds of other finishers Ironmen, including the three other people I race with, but he did not say so to me. He said my name, my time, and where I'm from, but didn't call me an Ironman. And you know what? In that moment it truly didn't matter.