We had a blast volunteering and giving water to the pro men and women triathletes as they ran by. Some of the elite age groupers came through our aid station as well. Shea ensured all the water cups were 1/2 full and organized so Julie and myself (and our friend John) could hand them to the athletes as they ran through the aid station. It was pretty cool as we got to see Jordan Rapp, Victor del Corral, Jozsef Major, Trevor Wurtele, Pedro Gomes, Matty Reed, Meredith Kesler, and Sarah Piampiano run through. Notice the perfect water handoff to Sarah Piampiano that I accomplished. Textbook!
The idea was to volunteer, get a wristband and a t-shirt, then get "head of the line" pass of sorts, to register for Ironman 2014.
With all the hoopla, drama, festering internet social bulletin boards and forums, the rumor was that there wouldn't be enough entry slots to accommodate all the volunteers that wished to register for the race. I drug my lazy ass out of bed at 2am, drove down to Tempe Beach Park, met my doctor who had the same idea, and then camped out with a blankie, chair, and a thermos of coffee, to wait until 8 when registration opened up.
After drinking all my coffee in the first 20 minutes, resting uncomfortably in the Tommy Bahama chair ("relax"...really...has Tommy tried to relax at 3 in the morning, freezing one's ass off in his own uncomfortable chair while trying to sleep? I think not), at around 5:30 in the morning, an Ironman representative moved the entire line through the park to line up. I started about number 50, but with some "speedpass" wristband holders (they volunteered at the hard to fill slots), I ended up about 200th in line to register. At 7:47 I paid my $740 and was officially registered for Ironman Arizona in November 2014.
