Sicilian weather

What a way to finish the race. Wayne is about half way done with the final marathon. The rain and wind are relentless. All the athlete's are having a very tough time staying warm. No one is dry. The wind is driving the rain sideways at times, and temperature has continued to drop since the sun went down a couple of hours ago. The usual celebration at the end of the race will not happen, as each finisher is in a rush to get to the hotel for a hot shower and dry clothes. Wayne should finish a little after midnight.

Final day at the deca

Sorry for the late post today. The weather has us all scrambling to keep the athletes warm. It has been cold, windy and rainy all day. Luckily, my luggage showed up last night, so I have plenty of warm and waterproof clothes to dole out to those who need them. It is now about 6:30 in the evening and Wayne has just begun the final marathon of the race. The sun came out for about an hour, and then the clouds regained the upper hand and now there is a cold rain falling. This should make for a tough run. No worries though, even if it takes a bit longer, the race will be finished tonight. I am glad that we don't have to worry about getting all the gear dried out for tomorrow.
Kim Greisen from Denmark will be the overall winner. This will be his thirty-fifth Ironman distance race in a twelve month period, setting a new world record for the number of iron distance races in a year. That is a record I would not want to try and break. I will let you all know how the end turns out, right now I have to find some more dry clothes for Wayne.

Day nine of the deca

All of the athletes are are starting to get excited about the conclusion of the race. Day eight went well, Wayne had reduced swelling in the lower leg and was able to run most of the marathon. He did back it down a bit so that days nine and ten would go smoothly. We expect rain every day, but did not get any, there was plenty of wind though. As I write this, Wayne is already out on the run on the ninth day. His 6:58 for the 112 mile course was his faster yet. This means if the run goes well, we will have another night with plenty of sleep. Only one more day to go after today, everyone is feeling the effects of the long race, it should be a good day on Sunday, rain or not.

Deca iron

Today is the eighth day of the Deca iron race in Sicily. It is very windy on the course, but no rain is expected. I was sorry to hear that Kari Martens from Sweden had dropped from the race. The paddock area will be a little lonelier for the next few days as his crew is always fun to work with. Kari mentioned that his neck was too sore to continue. For those of you that know Kari, it is amazing that he was even able to start the race this year. He was hit by a car while riding his bike about a year ago, and almost died.
We had what I would consider a small miracle yesterday. After Wayne's right leg began to swell three days ago, we thought he would be reduced to walking the marathon each day. The Wednesday marathon was over eight hours! We changed from just compression sleeves to compression sleeves/socks, had Petra tape the front of the shin with kinesiotape, and started an Ibuprofen regimen. The result was great, he was able to knock two hours off the marathon on Thursday. Today, the swelling has subsided some and we hope he is able to run again this evening. Ice is still difficult to find, but we ice the leg when possible.
The double iron race began this morning. That should help by having more athletes on the course this evening. It gets lonely at night after the fast guys finish up.
With three days left, everyone's mood is getting brighter, the end is in sight.

Deca Iron Italy

Greetings from rainy Sicily. Actually, the weather is quite pleasant. Sunny and warm, with afternoon, early evening thundershowers each day. We have had hail the past few days. Today is day seven of the Deca iron race and everyone appears to be moving a bit slower. Days six, seven and eight are the toughest for the racers.
The race started with 19 athlete's and as of today, seven have abandoned the competition. The top racers are very close, each doing about twelve hours for each day. Wayne started out very consistent, running in the fourteen hour range the first few days. A lower leg injury has slowed Wayne to a painful walk for each days marathon. The tendon sheathing is inflamed, making it difficult to walk or run. There is no ice anywhere in the village, so we have only ibuprofen to ease the pain. Today, Petra (our friend from Sweden) taped the lower leg and we will try compression socks once he exits the bike. In the pool we had to cut off the lower leg portion of his wetsuit, on the right side, because the leg was too swollen to get the suit on. Hopefully we can continue to get at least 3-4 hours of sleep.
The food is outstanding, each day the race volunteers outdo the previous day at lunch. The fresh fruit is also great. The only thing missing is a laundramat. We have to rinse our clothes out each day.
I arrived at the race on Sunday, today is Thursday, and I finally received word that my luggage was located, I may get it Friday. Now that I can get a blog out, I will try to update more frequently.