Hodges

A few years ago, my friend Ryan was the youngest competitor at the Ironman World Championships in Kona. The following year a few of us went over to cheer everyone on. These are pictures from that year. Ryan is a student-athlete and all around good guy. He recently completed Ironman Lanzarote, here is his race report:

Lets start with the swim...It was badass. I swam smart; slow at the start, maneuvered around packs of people and then hauled ass for the last 3/4 of the swim and ended the swim with a quick time. The bike course lived up to its name as being the hardest in the world. It was extremely gusty, very cold in the mountains, then very hot at sea level, with hills adding up to about 9000 ft in elevation.
The highlight of the race began when I had 8 miles left to go on the 112 mile bike ride...I got a flat tire. What did I do? I did everything I could to fix it. Nothing I had with me on the ride did what it was suppose to do. So, I was given the choice to quit the race, or run the last 8 miles of the bike course with my bike, barefoot, on the asphalt. So, I thought what the hell, I´ll run it. I sacrificed way too much to come here. I was first in my age group when I had the flat, but my goal from that point on was to just finish the race, doing well never mattered any more from that point on.
So, the day ended well. I finished. I had a great swim, and an unforgettable bike ride. Unfortunately, I ran a total of 34 miles- 8 more than I should have. I´m just glad to call myself an Ironman once again...Praise the LORD!
Thank you everyone for the prayers and for supporting me along the way. Thinking about all of you really helped me through the run.

Great job Ryan!