Heats and Waves
The temperature has been up around 100 here for the past couple of days, which is unheard of, really. The low humidity is unusual as well...I guess not much moisture can stay around when it's that hot!
Tomorrow we're supposed to have "weather," which always frightens me. I grew up with earthquake drills, so I understand that phenomenon more than the tornado drills kids experience here. Happily, we have a very strong-feeling 1st floor indoor hallway to retreat to when necessary.
After the weather, should everything still be standing, people are looking forward to the high of about 85 degrees. I'm not sure, though - I think I prefer 100 and dry; 85 and 80% humidity is just nasty!
This morning M and I volunteered at Muncie's Ironman Triathlon. Early. I somehow thought it was a good idea to be on the earliest team, so we could be finished early, which meant that we left our house before 3:30.
I was body marking, and M was in a kayak making sure the competitors were safe during their first leg of a 1-mile swim. Apparently (we heard the scuttle after we arrived) some grumbling was in the air, as the high temperatures caused the Ironman crew to shorten the race to an Olympic distance: 37.4 miles total instead of the 70.3 expected. There was some furor over the officials' decision not to give refunds...they offered something else, but it wasn't a very helpful something else. But overall people were generally cheerful and characteristically focused.
(See M? the orange kayak, right in the center)
Triathletes are not as laid-back and jovial as just your average-Joe runner. Nice, but intense. I watched them coming out of the water, heading up an incline to their bikes, knowing that they still had to ride a looong ways and then run a loooong ways. They are impressive.
And every kind of person entered. I overheard that the race had 1500 entries, 600 of whom were first-timers! They all stood at attention for the national anthem and clapped enthusiastically for it; there was a Christian prayer before that, which a few people clapped for. I was surprised that an official Ironman event would allow for that...Indiana.
Plenty of families came along to support their moms, dads, daughters, sons, grandsons....The kids most enjoyed the swimming area, in between their cheering.
We may just do this again next year - but probably won't do the body marking at 4:30 a.m.! Maybe we'll both be kayakers by then....
Tomorrow we're supposed to have "weather," which always frightens me. I grew up with earthquake drills, so I understand that phenomenon more than the tornado drills kids experience here. Happily, we have a very strong-feeling 1st floor indoor hallway to retreat to when necessary.
After the weather, should everything still be standing, people are looking forward to the high of about 85 degrees. I'm not sure, though - I think I prefer 100 and dry; 85 and 80% humidity is just nasty!
This morning M and I volunteered at Muncie's Ironman Triathlon. Early. I somehow thought it was a good idea to be on the earliest team, so we could be finished early, which meant that we left our house before 3:30.
I was body marking, and M was in a kayak making sure the competitors were safe during their first leg of a 1-mile swim. Apparently (we heard the scuttle after we arrived) some grumbling was in the air, as the high temperatures caused the Ironman crew to shorten the race to an Olympic distance: 37.4 miles total instead of the 70.3 expected. There was some furor over the officials' decision not to give refunds...they offered something else, but it wasn't a very helpful something else. But overall people were generally cheerful and characteristically focused.
Triathletes are not as laid-back and jovial as just your average-Joe runner. Nice, but intense. I watched them coming out of the water, heading up an incline to their bikes, knowing that they still had to ride a looong ways and then run a loooong ways. They are impressive.
And every kind of person entered. I overheard that the race had 1500 entries, 600 of whom were first-timers! They all stood at attention for the national anthem and clapped enthusiastically for it; there was a Christian prayer before that, which a few people clapped for. I was surprised that an official Ironman event would allow for that...Indiana.
Plenty of families came along to support their moms, dads, daughters, sons, grandsons....The kids most enjoyed the swimming area, in between their cheering.
We may just do this again next year - but probably won't do the body marking at 4:30 a.m.! Maybe we'll both be kayakers by then....
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