Can anyone give me suggestions about where I should direct my wife to be during the race?Best spots for viewing, space, etc.
We are staying at the Courtyard Tempe, so she’ll be walking.
looking at the course–I believe it runs past 3rd and mill which has a number of outdoor restruants/bars–I’ll have to look again to make sure
some on the second story which might be nice
There are a number of shops as well which should keep her occupied should she want to take a break from the nonstop IM excitement
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Along with my wife… in the outdoor seating section of Montys Steakhouse with her feet up drinking a margarita!
She should come down to the swim start, wish you luck, watch you disappear into 2500 identical looking wetsuit covered, seal lookalikes. Watch the swim start and as much of that as she wants. Go back to bed, get up 3 hours later, eat breakfast, go shopping, get some lunch, maybe get a massage, have dinner, pick up some reading material, and then maybe head back to the finish line. Hopefully she’ll see you coming down the chute, provided you gave her a reasonable expectation of when you would be there.
It is cruel and inhumane to expect anyone, no matter how much they claim to love you, to watch an entire IM in real time at the race site.
You are indistinguishable from anyone else in your wetsuit, cap, and goggles for the swim. How do you watch an IM bike leg? “Hey he just came out of T1”, 5 - 6 hours later, “hey he just came back to T2, oh wait that wasn’t him, shoot I may have missed him, oh hell I can’t find him.” And an IM marathon is tedious for the people doing the race, imagine watching 2500 people shambling a marathon, it is like Return of the living Dead, except without as much motion.
So, the swim is kind of cool, lots of action and pretty exciting with all of the people, the bike isbad because they see you for 15 seconds at the start and finish but 6 hours of nothing in between, and the marathon is the same kind of deal. Your best bet is to give a best case and worst case scenario and hope they find you at the finish chute. No matter which venue they are at. And make sure you have some sort of system for finding each other in case they don’t see you finish. Post-IM is not a fun time to not be able to find your support crew.
Drinking Margaritas at a restaurant on the course sounds good to me. Anyone want to join me?
Reminds me of my first trip to Kona. I was “spectating” during the run at Kona Amigo’s, as it was called then, above the finish line. I took up a conversation with the bartender, who kept buying me Margaritas. Turned out he was the owner. Needless to say, I kinda stumbled to the finish line to meet my husband, trying very hard to not look as tipsy as I felt. 
I felt guilty for having enjoyed myself while he was running the marathon in the heat of the lava fields.
What is it with shopping? I have never had any interest in shopping during a race. I guess I am just not one of those wives who finds shopping a form of entertainment.
Support Crew
i figure for comming down and supporting me, the least I can do is encourage several margheritas be consumed!!!
Good post JPO-
*It is cruel and inhumane to expect anyone, no matter how much they claim to love you, to watch an entire IM in real time at the race site. *
I didn’t know this. Oh good! Joe is gonna lose big time in the divorce on grounds of intolerable cruelty. I have got him on at least 30 counts so far.
Now he’s really going to tell me to “Stop reading that stuff on Slowtwitch”.
Support Crew
I like to watch…
I can see what jpo posted about an IM being tough to watch, but this race is likely to be more spectator-friendly than others. If she goes anywhere along the bike course near the transition area, you will come by six times on the bike, in addition to T1 and T2. The bike course goes by there at approx miles 8, 35, 43, 70, 78, and 105 (based on an estimated 35 mile loop done 3x before the finishing loop). She might want to hang out on 3rd Street, near Mill Ave, as there are places to eat and shop nearby, and it’s less than 10 minutes from your hotel.
If she wants to watch you run, she could hang out on the Mill Ave bridge (if allowed), because then she could see you doing a good portion of the run - binoculars recommended. From there, you could see runners on the south side of the lake (running “out”), and twice on the north side of the lake (out and back) on each loop. The bridge would also be a good place to watch the swim.
cholla
The Courtyard is ideal because it is an easy walk to the start…only the race hotel Mission Palms is better. From there, she can join you at the start and maybe go out over the Mill Avenue or Rural Road bridge, which you will swim under…both have wide sidewalks.
There aren’t any bars or eating establishments that overlook the 3rd street course, but there is a nice park at 3rd and Mill which has shade trees, and there is a coffee shop, Quizno’s, etc just a block up. Easy walk from the Courtyard. Could probably see just as much or more from the Mill bridge or the swim start, esp. with a pair of binoculars.
If I could pick a place for someone to cheer for me on the run, it would be at the park on Curry road and College. You will pass this twice each lap, and it has lots of shade, a play ground area, dog runs, bathrooms/shelters, etc. Strategically located so that you have something to look forward to after you leave the start area crowd and after the turn around in Papago Park. Might be sort of hard to drive to it and it would be a >1 mile walk from the start, if they waited until you passed by the last time it would be a race to see who got to the finish line first.
You’ll see when you get here…
Thanks for all the information. I live in Madison, and have done IM-Moo twice, this is my first experience at an Ironman involving travel. Do you know the approximate mile mark locations on the run similar to those posted re bike course? She likes me to give her mile marks and she knows my projected pace, then she can plan accordingly. Years ago I went to ASU and lived in Manzanita Hall; I’m looking forward to seeing the town again and reliving those college days.
I’ll be shipping one set of wheels in my Trico box via airplane, but I’m considering bringing an additional set; can wheels be carried on an airplane? Can they be gate checked?
My very crude estimates would put the run as follows:
Miles 2, 15 - you will pass under the Mill Ave bridge on the south side of the lake (plus T2 and the half-marathon point you will, obviously, be at transition nearby).
Miles 4, 11, 17, 24 you will pass under the Mill Ave bridge on the north side of the lake.
Beware, these distances are estimates based on my mapping software, and me tracing the route as best as I can.
I also am ASU alum, but I live here in the Valley. I’m sure Manzy would be a lot different with a wife!
Good luck.
have her set up scaffolding on the mill street bridge. With good binoculars she should be able to see you race about 65% of the course.