Nearly 2500 athletes lined the shore of Lake Monona on the morning of the 6th annual Ironman Wisconsin. Scattered among them were the eight teammates of RaceAthlete anxiously awaiting their command to take the water--each one among them having followed a different journey to get to this point and each one having a different goal--some to finish, one to qualify for Kona.

The sun's rays pierced the chilled air as it rose above the lake alluding to the perfect race conditions it would bring--no rain and mild temperatures.

As the day wore on, each athlete took on their own personal challenges. Chris Sweet was the first RaceAthlete to cross the finish line with a time of 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 11 seconds. This put him 4th in his age group, and made him a Kona qualifier.

Next in were Michelle, Stu, Greg, and Brett, all under the 13-hour mark. Tyler and Roman came in within the next hour. And finishing later in the evening, with the giant smile of the culmination of months of hard work and dedication, was IronWil.

Every athlete finished. That is an amazing feat for such a long strenuous event. Every athlete had their own journey on that day. To find out how it went for each of them, visit their blogs: Bolder, Stu, Brett, Tyler, Chris, Everyman, IronWil , and RuralGirl.