Water Station

With another eighteen miles to go, an Iron Man participant grabs a soaking wet sponge and douses himself with water before gulping a two cups of GatorAde.

By mid afternoon, 12 hours after the race started, the participants passing through the water station were moving slower and growing older. Most family members and supporters were waiting back at the transition area, finish line. Out here, in front of my condo, they needed “Rah-Rah, Go Team” cheering. David and I took up the call.

Perched on my fence for a good view, I used my camera’s telephoto lens to spot runners’ numbers as they came to the water station on Alii Drive. I called the number out to David who looked up the participant’s name, age and hometown in the Iron Man program guide.
When the runners passed my condo we’d yell out their name. Exhausted sweaty faces, cast downward suddenly looked up, surprised to hear their names called out. Each runner wondered, “who knows me?” Of course they didn't know us, but their tired faces turned all smiles as we gave them the thumbs up, yelled words of encouragement and told them we’d leave the light on.

We’d sang Oh, Canada for our friends from the land of the Maple Leaf. David yelled out in Spanish for those who came from South America. And we just did our best not to botch the names of the Japanese runners. With participants from 46 countries, we were a little limited on cheer, but a name is universally appreciated.

We recognized the home town runners from Kona and from the state of Hawaii. We tried to acknowledge the state when we remembered the motto or nickname.

Unfortunately after a 2.6 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride, some of the runners, just two miles into the marathon, were already totally out of it. They never heard us shout out.