Ironman Boulder 70.3

     Ironman took over a half max distance race in Boulder this year and I wanted to go and check it out.  Rather than being a spectator, I convinced Kayleigh to volunteer with me and the both of us worked an aid station on the bike course.  It was a very interesting day and I now appreciate volunteers on race day a whole lot more. 
     The day started by unloading two and half pallets of Gatorade and three pallets of water onto the side of the road.  After we set up, the owner of the property adjacent to the road decided that he wanted to be a royal ass and ordered us to move because Ironman failed to ask his permission to use his property (apparently it stretched to the middle of the road, who knows).  In order to be respectful and uphold the integrity of the Ironman race series, we loaded the five and a half pallets of liquid back into the truck and moved 100m down the road to unload them once again. 
     The next part of the day consisted of removing all of the safety seals and caps off of ~5000 bottles of water and ~3000 bottles of Gatorade so that the racers wouldn't have to mess around with them while racing.  Then it was race time.... I could see the time car leading the first pros towards us.  I was excited to see Andy Potts fly by, and that's just what he did.  The pros were going so fast that you couldn't tell who they were until they had already passed us at 30mph.  It was still exciting, but I now know that when I volunteer the next time to do body markings or work an aid station on the run course. 
     Cheering on all of the age groupers was a good time though, and it made me appreciate the effort and time it takes to put on a high class event like Ironman.  I would recommend volunteering at a large race like Ironman to anyone that one day wants to participate in one.