How lucky is that

No not for me, but for my teammate Mike.

I had to rush back to my office, which is just off the course so I thought I would do a quick summation of Soma Half Ironman so far.

I have some good pictures of Tim DeBoom and Chris Leigh. Lewis Elliot the number one Arizona triathlete is showing well.

Back to Mike. I had postitioned myself at a spot for taking pictures that got triathletes coming up a step hill and coming down into a left turn. Mike crashed his bike right at my feet, hard. I was taking his picture and I very well may have snapped the exact moment of his impact. He landed on his back and shoulder on the curb. His adrenaline was really high but his rear tire was taco'd.

He is going to propose to his girlfriend when he finishs the run and was really upset. Some other spectators helped get his bike upright but he was bleeding from some nice cuts and were telling him to rest a bit. Still he refused to give up with one more 15 mile lap and a 13 mile run. So I gave him my mountain bike and my running shoes (no clip in on the mtn bike) and off he went.

I brought his bike back to my office, I felt kinda like the guy from Kona a couple years ago, and grabbed my extra shoes. Now I am off for more film for the run. I have blown through 3 rolls already.

I'll post more later.

BTW, IronBenny is doing super. I missed him coming out of the water but have 3-4 shots of him on the bike. He is probably averaging about 23 mph based on my estimation of the course and his pace with compared with friends I have on the course.