The Des Moines Ironman Triathlon is Sunday. For those not participating, that means street closures along the route, sleeping in instead of starting a 140.6 mile journey swimming, biking and running, and maybe parking yourself along the route to see some of the best athletes in the world (and maybe your neighbor who's been training for months) compete!
The Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim (at Gray's Lake for this race), followed by a 112 mile bike ride, then run a full marathon of 26.2 miles. To get "Ironman" status, you must complete all three in 17 hours or under. It takes the "average" Ironman triathlete about 12 1/2 hours to complete the race, though I think anyone who takes this challenge on is far above average from the start!
The race still needs volunteers, you can click HERE to register. A full rundown of the schedule is HERE. Welcome to all the professional Ironman athletes to Des Moines, and good luck to all the participants!
Photo: Getty Images