Today marked the cumulation of six weeks training by Ruby at The Long Beach Junior Lifeguards for the Ironguard event. This takes a lot of determination, strength building and positive attitude! The course is really the entire length of the beach at Long Beach. It begins at 1st Place and ends at 72nd Place. It is a combination of running and swimming which is a total of 4 miles beach running with an additional 2 miles of swimming. There are 14 buoys that are swam around plus one pier.
Ruby Ready to go! Check-in at 8 AM getting the tracking number "tattooed" on each arm with a sharpie!
Ruby and her friends warm up for the Ironguard marathon!
At 9 AM all participants are at the water's edge when the Fireboats blast their horns and begin the water sprays for the start of the game. And into the ocean all ran to begin the swim around the first buoy, then the run on the sand to reenter the water for the second buoy and so-on.
While the kids continued their journey, we drove down to the pier parking lot which is just over the half-way mark of the complete Ironguard to await the arrival of Ruby. We were proud when she approached on the run then into the water to swim way out around the pier. What an accomplishment! Carrie and Ed had made a florescent Ruby poster so she could spot us when she was coming in!
Hitting the beach was a great relief for all of the swimmers. They all took a few minutes to search for some friends and teammates who were still coming in plus giving thanks that there were no sharks at the end of the pier (per Ruby!). Then after a drink of hydrating water, it was off to complete the final leg of the Ironguard with the last six remaining buoys!
And then coming into the finish line - 2 hours 23 minutes! Wonderful accomplishment!
1 comments:
Totally impressed by Ruby's determination and accomplishment. Way to go, Ruby! So glad you got to share in it and be there to cheer her on to the finish line. - Aunt Barb
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