When I get a long list of e-mails, I go for the personal ones, ones that are a happy and bright escape from the dreary, boring “hoping to sell” ones.
This is my attempt to send to you, a personal note, not another joke, political, unwanted e-mail but one that I hope you will find it worth your time to catch up on what is happening with Jack and Shirley! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Madison, Wisconsin to witness granddaughter, Jennifer Waller become an Ironman again for the second time!Jack despises airports with their insistence on taking off your shoes and emptying your pockets of change, taking off your watch etc. I have never minded that since I walk thru that security arch with no problem. HAH! For the first time, the alert sounded and I was searched to find “the terrorist weapon” I was suspected of carrying. I took off my watch, my bracelet but was allowed to wear my ring. Again that danged alert sounded and I had to be searched once again! The culprit, MY LIPSTICK found in the depth of my pocket. Well, we got through that and were ready for our new adventure.
We were tickled to have a non-stop flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin only to get an e-mail from our carrier, Air Trans, to learn that we had been rescheduled to fly to Atlanta and then on to Milwaukee. What a revolting development that was!!! We had no choice. We had reservations for the Best Western Airport Hotel in Milwaukee. Their price, $86,.00 was our bargain of the day, a BIG BARGAIN, since we look on Best Western as an older mediocre hotel chain. What a surprise to find a large spacious room, and an indoor pool. The restaurant was another surprise! Not a “Denny’s gag me with a spoon” type, but a very nice dining establishment with good food. There was also an elevated area cordoned off with brass bar entrance to the tables area. Jack and I loved our dinner in that private and quiet section of the dining room. In essence, this Best Western was a total and complete SURPRISE. A total and complete difference from our hotel room in Madison, Wisconsin! See next paragraph to learn how different it was!
Madison was happy to host the Ironman with it’s thousands of participants with their friends and family. All with pockets full of money for the state. Wisconsin encourages Geocaching , hoping to bring more people into the state. Holiday Inn Express was filled to capacity as were most hotels. Besides the
Ironman, there was a big Wisconsin State football game and a concert. We felt lucky to have a room but what a room!
There was a big dinner the night before the Ironman, and we were invited as Jennifer’s guest. I have never dined in a room with sooo many people as we did that night. I’m guessing 2,000 or more! Very long tables reached across a room close to 200 feet wide! Ford sponsored the Ironman Event and it was evident wherever you looked to see a sign or banner or even an automobile, to show who was the sponsor, it was a FORD!
Back to our hotel, and it’s difference to our Best Western stay. We set up the ironing board to press a few things before the dinner, but where to set it up, our room at $135 a night was a closet! Fortunately by holding our breath we were able to squeeze it in near the door to enter our room and the bath room. There was a pair of queen sized beds, a desk with a chair that filled the space to walk to the armoire for our clothes.
Next door was the Sheraton where Jennifer stayed at $160 a night. We liked the Sheraton with it’s restaurant and a bar. A fun place to celebrate both after the dinner and after the Ironman event. We took up two round bar height tables. We dazzled our waiter and the guests with our changing color lite cubes. The room was abuzz with happy patrons. We enjoyed being together and sharing jokes and stories. It’s a special time in our visit, for that bit of time to talk and catch up on news.
Our second day in Madison was a day to jump out of bed, grab a quick bite and go to the scene of the start of the Ironman swim. Again, the crowd and the air of excitement was exhilarating, plus there was a hint of fear at losing each other in the mass of happy people there to cheer on their soon to be Ironman!
The lake was alive with thousands of would be Ironmen, twice that number, were the thousands of arms rapidly moving to speed through the waters of Lake Monona. Boats accompanied the swimmers should they need help,. We saw nothing but capped swimmer’s heads making progress across the lake. It was a 2. 4 mile swim after a fifteen minute period of treading water.Jenny swam her 2.4 miles in one hour and seventeen minutes and 12 seconds! From the swim she jumped into dry clothes , grabbed her bike, and left for the one hundred and twelve mile bike ride. During that period we got on a free school bus to go to an area where we could view the bike portion of the Ironman bike ride. Since it was lunch time, I couldn’t imagine why we were going away from the downtown area with it’s many great places to eat, to a place much further away, until I learned this was a viewpoint cordoned off to watch the ironman bikers speed by. There was a cemetery nearby, next to an area filled with tents set up and ready to sell a beverage and some “brats”, the meat most popular in Wisconsin. Also, Jack just had to try a Walking Taco served in a Nacho bag. I felt guilty as I downed my brat sandwich, with more fat than I needed to consume. A cold bottle of Pepsi was a treat on a day that predicted rain and turned into a sunny surprise! The line for the Andy Gump was long and unending. I’m glad there was a place to wash your hands nearby with water pumped by your feet. Rolls of paper towels lay on the ground next to the system.
We watched the bikers whiz by, as they grabbed a bottle of water, and tossed the empty ones for the volunteers to keep off of the bikeway. I couldn’t find a picture of the thousands of bikes so this picture of me with Jennifer’s $4,500 bike will have to do. It was nice of Bill to bring the bike down from her hotel room to show me the special features of the bike.
Rain was predicted for this day but fortunately the weather was just right, not too hot and not too cold but best of all not too wet or even wet at all!
Another bus ride back to town, back to watch Jenny complete the Ironman with a 26 mile run! The ferver of the crowd became more exciting with it’s roaring and howling for the competitors. A mamouth screen on the city street was surrounded by thousands as they each waited to cheer their own special Ironman! We added our screams as Jennifer entered, arms outstretched with glee at making an Ironman for the very second time!
It was an awesome moment, an unforgettable one and one worth the day of mucho walking and waiting, Jack and I are now a successful Iron Grandpa and iron Granny for the second time!
A happy girl and her proud friend and partner, Bill! Way to go Jenny! I wish I could see you next year in Louisville, Kentucky since you’ve signed up for Ironman AGAIN!.
To become an Ironman, you must swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26 miles in one day.
JENNIFER WALLER
| BIB | AGE | STATE/COUNTRY | PROFESSION |
| 1998 | 31 | | NURSE PRACTITIONER |
| | |||
| SWIM | BIKE | RUN | OVERALL | RANK | DIV.POS. |
| 1:17:12 | 7:23:11 | 4:18:15 | 13:14:54 | 1185 | 43 |
| LEG | DISTANCE | PACE | RANK | DIV.POS. |
| TOTAL SWIM | 2.4 mi. (1:17:12) | 2:01/100m | 1124 | 48 |
| | | |||
| TOTAL BIKE | 112 mi. (7:23:11) | 15.16 mph | 1698 | 67 |
| | | |||
| FIRST RUN SEGMENT | 13.1 mi. (2:02:22) | 9:20/mile | | |
| RUN FINISH | 13.1 mi. (2:15:53) | 10:22/mile | | |
| TOTAL RUN | 26.2 mi. (4:18:15) | 9:51/mile | 1185 | 43 |
| | | |||
| TRANSITION TIME | | |||
| T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 10:18 | ||||
| T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 5:58 | ||||
