So it was in St. George that I learned even more about the dexterity and fortitude of the human body and soul. Wow, triathlons are awesome. Wow, Nick is awesome. He ended up finishing 26th out of 128 in his age group.
We left Friday morning so we could get into town soon enough for Nick to do a trial swim at the reservoir and a run on the course. Meanwhile, Alli Jean (our newest nickname), Nene, Drew, and I spent some hard working time at the hotel pool sweating to the oldies. Nick returned donned in Sharpie pronouncing his number 1423 placed conspicuously on arms, legs, and hands. The cool thing about the marking is that they put the participant’s age on the left calf—which feeds the voyeur in me and engenders admiration for the amazing stuff that 65 year-olds can do. We attended the Tri-Club carb dinner at the park and returned to the hotel to service Nick’s bike and dowse all his gear in baby powder (to improve transition times).
Despite the horrid temperature battles we all face while sleeping in hotels (why can’t those dang box fans accommodate us through the night!?), all three of us were up at 5 a.m. slathered in sunscreen and wearing our finest to suit the predicted 84 degree sunnyness in Dixie. Ummm, did someone forget to tell us that 5 a.m. temperatures are far below the daily high? That was my airhead moment for the trip. Brrrr! Nick’s age group put him in about the fourth wave to start the swim. He was out in the water waiting for about forty minutes freezing in his slick looking wetsuit before they called off the swim since they had to rescue about forty people from the previous waves. So, we dashed to the starting lines and watched him begin his bike ride and return to complete a record breaking run (based on his personal best). Nick did better than his last St. George tri and we are very proud of him.
I wonder what Alli really thought of the race. Maybe in her head were thoughts like these, “My mommy woke me up when it’s still nighttime, put me in shorts, and drove me to a place where we sit on lava rocks by a lake and freeze while eating raisins. We move around a lot looking at all these people who look just like my daddy when all I want to do is ‘Go back to the hotel!’ At least my mommy keeps me entertained while I watch her jump up and down and sing songs!”
4 comments:
Wow, really cool! I always admire people that do stuff like that. Not so much my cup of tea, but I think it's great when other people have the discipline to train for something like that! Happy Belated Mother's Day to you my friend!
P.S. I don't think you should take any more month long hiatuses lady!
Very very impressive. I would much rather be a spectator than a participant! Don't you love when we can be completely air headed about things such as dressing a little warmer at 5 am. That sounds exactly like something I would do. But I still call Tyler and ask if certain temperatures are shorts or pants weather. I guess I'm always airheaded when it comes to that. I'm just so used to 10 months out of the year being shorts weather here in Houston!!
Wow, way to go!
brrr! That lake looks so cold! congrats!
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