First Triathlon

Collin participated in his first triathlon this morning.  To prepared, he has been riding and running a lot (because of track, soccer and baseball) but he had not put all of this together yet.  Yesterday, we set up his bike, shoes and race number in a transition area.  He then went to the other side of our pool.  he then jumped in, swam to the other side, got out of the water, ran to his bike and got ready to ride. We had talked about what to do when he got out of the pool.  As I watched him get ready for the bike the first time, I realized I forgot to tell him to take his goggles off.  We both had a good laugh at this. He tried it again and remembered to take his goggles off.

We woke up at 5:15am to leave the house at 5:45am because we had to put his bike and things in the transition area before 6:30am.  We knew the traffic would be bad because there were over 600 racers expected.  That's the bad part about racing...early mornings and big crowds.

Because only one parent could be in the transition area with each child, I went in with Collin to help him out. We found his number, 177, and started getting his things ready.  He and I walked through how to find his bike in the crowd and what to do each time he came into the transition area.  He was not excited about wearing the swim cap, but had to so they could see his number which was also on his cap.

In the transition area

We then met with Dad and walked over to where the swim started.  We waited until they called for the 9 year old boys.  Collin raced as a 9 year old because the racers raced at the age they will be by December 31.  He LOVED that he was racing in an older category.  It was time to line the boys up for the swim and then the parents had to leave.  He was with Oliver who had raced many times before.

It was not long until we saw the boys in the water.  I found him easily because he had a shirt on and black goggles.  The swim was 100 meters in the lazy river at the water park.

Taking a quick breath before swimming to the end

He is on the top right of the picture

He could not wait to take his swim cap off

Headed to get his bike

He did a great job running to the transition area after the swim.  He quickly found his bike, got his shoes and helmet on and ran to the Bike Out location.  He finished riding 2 miles fast but I was there to see him ride back to the transition area.

When he was back in the transition area, he put his bike back in the rack over from where he was supposed to.  So, he was not able to put on his race number for the run but at least he had his shoes on already to run 1 mile to the finish line.  Because of so many bikes, I could see why he got lost but we will have to work on that the next time.

It was not long until he was at the finish line.  Here he is about to finish.  Look how fast he is.  Love that they called his name out, too, when he crossed the finish line.

At the finish, he got a medal and then ran back to watch his friend's run in.  He was so fast that he beat them in.  Here they all are after the race.

Collin and Owen

Another one of Collin and Owen

Collin, Owen and Oliver

While waiting to see how he did, we took some pictures and got some food.  The boys played a little and were getting antsy to ride some of the ride at the water park that were not open yet.

That's my tired triathlete

So proud of this boy!

We found out that he placed 14th out of 93 in his age group and 43 out of 608 total in the race.  He looked fast....and really was fast.  So proud of him!!!

I am sure he will want me to sign him up again for another race.  I have already checked the calendar to see when the next race in the area is.