Quick Recap of Austin

I actually remembered to look at the weather forecast for Austin before I left COS. I wanted to pack minimally and was happy to see that the temperatures were going to be in that 'perfect' range where it's not too hot or too cold.
Well, I must have mis-read some part of weather.com because I was a bit unprepared! I packed light-weight clothes and didn't even carry a jacket...I just sprinted from my car into the airport in COS and thought I would be warm until I got back home...WRONG!
I got to Austin around 8:30pm on Friday night and didn't walk outside into a crisp evening...it was a COLD evening! Good thing I always wear jean pants when I travel...because I wore them for the rest of the weekend with layers of short-sleeved shirts up top.
The next morning came complete with cold winds all day. I was taking care of my bum foot and trying to do as much "sitting work" as possible...well, the "sitting work" was always under a tent and out of the warm sunshine (for the first time I was actually jealous of the guys out doing the heavy lifting in the sun)!
Anyways...the course was all set up and registration went very smooth on Saturday. I worked the race-day registration and got to see my friend Brendan check-in (see photos below) for his first IronKids. I made it through the mid0day session by chowing down on the yummy Clif Bars for kids (called Z-Bars) thanks to the Clif Bar rep that was at the race site. They also have these fruity-things called "Fruit Ropes" that are completely made from organic fruit...at least I was eating healthy during the registration:)!
After packing up the IK staff headed into Austin to shop and grab some dinner. I was in heaven because we went to the HUGE Whole Foods store and got to chow down at the endless salad bar (yes, a $15 salad is well worth it!) before hitting up some clothing stores to warm up the credit cards! I picked up some cute shirts...but of course, I couldn't find a jacket/sweatshirt that I liked enough...it would have come in handy for the race morning!
Speaking of race morning...I was up at 5:40am (which was 4:40am COS time) and heading to the Circle C Ranch pool. The sun wasn't up yet but the kids were already in the transition area getting their gear set up. I took photos all morning as I was running around cheering for the athletes. I got to speak to the kids before they started racing...a little motivation and pump-up stuff...and then again when it was time for the awards. Between those two times at the microphone, I was at the finish line for every competitor passing out words of "Congratulations" and their 'finisher pins'. (Shhh...I pocketed a bag of the pins to pass out to people I meet during my travels around the world:) Sharing pins seem to be a great ice-breaker in any country and with people of any language.
The race day ended around 2pm as the last stack of cones was loaded into the IronKids semi-truck. Some of the staff had early afternoon flights and were already on their way to the Austin airport. Fortunately, I had a late afternoon flight as was able to get back to the hotel for a shower, a meal, some TV, and a relaxed packing session. Tom Ziebart, head IK race director, had a flight time similar to mine and was able to give me a ride to the airport.
By the way, did I mention that I was able to upgrade to FIRST CLASS on the Denver to Austin flight on Friday night? Yeah, that was sweet! We were served a complete dinner and treated like 'airline royalty'. Well, I was able to use another upgrade and get the First Class treatment on the Austin to Denver flight! If I keep getting these opportunities, I'm going to be too spoiled to ride back in the 'cargo-load' with the rest of the passengers:)