Cebu, Sunday is race day!

In the wee hours of the night/morning (whatever time it was, I was not sure. I was half-asleep) - I heard and was somewhat aware that the husband was awake and moving about, getting ready to leave for his race. He bade me goodbye and I continued to slumber...


The boy and I were getting into the groove of sleeping in on this holiday, and we awoke past 8am. How amazing is that! I was determined to try to work out to burn off much of the indulgence I had been consuming (burps) and brought the boy along with me to the gym.

Lift wefie series: heading to the gym

After the work out, we headed to breakfast. And without hesitation or delay, the boy zoomed straight to his 'second home'.

I picked a seat in the restaurant where I could watch him, whilst having breakfast.

After breakfast (everyone loves buffet breakfast in hotels hooray!), we proceeded to change and get ready to go meet the husband. He gave me a time of 12.30pm, and because I was not sure how heavy the human traffic would be (with no delay, it takes us less than 10 minutes to stroll from Movenpick to Shangri-La) so I opted to leave earlier with the boy. At 11.45am, we were on our way.

Marching onwards...

A busy street sight greeted us the moment we hit the main road. We walked a couple of steps and I decided to enquire about the race route. Turns out, I struck gold! The stretch that led us from our hotel to finish line, was the exact road that all participants will run past. I decided that we should find a spot along this road and wait to spot the husband; and so we did.

Still looking fresh. There was a drink station opposite our hotel.

As time went by, however, the boy started getting impatient. I found ways to amuse him - by teaching him how to stretch his arm out to hi5 and encourage runners as they went by. It took him a bit of tries - initially, he was slightly shy, then he got over-enthusiastic as he ran into their path - but he got it after a while. It was great seeing his face light up when someone acknowledged his presence.

Hi5 boy

That magical moment when we spotted the husband and his friends!

WE SPOTTED THE HUSBAND! Oh the thrill of spotting a familiar face amidst the crowds, it feels absolutely amazing! For us to travel all those miles in the foreign land, to be able to witness him run and complete his inaugural race - that was super and it felt great.

When the husband was still in happy spirits, i.e. not in pain

Thrilled! On a high after spotting the husband

After spotting the husband, J and I were pretty thrilled and looked forward to him completing the loop towards the finish line. However, that did not happen for a while. A... long... while.

Spot the impatient little man

Managed to pacify him a little, by offering him some food

While asking that he continues to cheer the runners on

When I could not hold him to the roadside any longer, we adjourned to the barricades closer to the finish line. I figured a change in environment will be good to distract him. I was doing mental calculations to try my best to figure out when the husband may hit the finish line, and there were moments where I doubted if it was possible that I had -GASP- missed him; but thanks to my perseverance and amazing distraction skills of keeping a 4-yo occupied, we managed to catch the husband again, before he crossed the finish line.

Waiting

Probably about the last 10m of the entire 70.3miles

After seeing the husband complete his race, I was relieved. The boy and I then moved to the designated waiting spot - where we had to wait for the husband to meet us post-race. We chanced upon a media session where the winners across the region were being interviewed.

The heavyweights of Ironman 70.3

I did not recognise or know anyone, but I know that they looked amazing. So relaxed and happy to have completed their race in amazing time. There was only that much toilet time, listening to these people speak, or questions I could field from my boy. As he had been pretty much a champ the whole time, even braving the tiny drizzle that -thankfully-passed, I rewarded him with ice-cream.

Waiting is more fun with ice-cream

Finally, the husband came and I was so happy to see him! I swear he turned 3 shades darker, and while he was limping slightly, he was in pretty good spirits.

Our family pic taken post-race, which garnered 350 likes on FB!
What a hero :)

Playing Dad

Making our way back to the hotel

I'm supporting 1228!

We were all pretty happy to be in an air-con room by this time, and were happy to rest in a comfortable space. The husband - besides being extremely tanned - was in decent spirits and while hungry, managed to place an order for room service more enthusiastically than actually eating the food.

Resting

After filling our tummies, I brought the boy out of the room to give the boy time to play, and the man some time to rest.

Life wefie series: pool time!

He lounged in the waters, scripting stories of fires and rescue with his toys;
I sat by the side with my beer. Bliss.

After the sun went down, we headed up to the room to change and get ready for dinner. Dinner was of low energy, because the crew was all knackered from their day of exertion. The only one bubbling with energy was, yup, this little boy.



Faking a ride on this toy



The day had been fantastic and in so many ways special. I am so proud of the husband - not just for his achievement of accomplishing the race (I never doubted he would cross the finish line), but for the fact that he worked towards it. I remember sometime last year, he said he wanted to do it, then one day, he told me that he had signed up. I saw him put in time to run and swim and improve his technique, borrow bikes and put in time to ride it across our island of Singapore... and it became more real as we started to book our flights and hotel... then finally made it there.

It has been a journey of perseverance, and I see the husband enjoying himself along the way. That is in itself a joy and I say it again, that I am so proud of his accomplishment.

We love you, baby, our very own iron man!