Give It A Tri-athlon

My love of triathlons began three years ago. Since then, I've raced in 11 triathlons, with two more remaining this season. Carrie found triathlon last year. In May, we competed in the Xterra Lake Las Vegas triathlon together. Triathlon is a sport that we both love.

A few months ago an idea began brewing in our minds: Let's put on our own triathlon for the women in our church to participate in. We knew it would be hard to recruit these women to try something new. But after several swim sessions, a local 5k race, and a good push, we had 18 women who were willing to "give it a try!"

(T-shirt designed by Skyler Wallace)

Saturday, July 25: 18 nervous women showed up at Hart Park. We checked them in, gave them their swim caps, and marked their arms with their race numbers. They set up their transition areas and prepared for the race! Jomy, Laura, Cindy, MaryAnn, and Debbie are all smiles and ready to do this!

Robin and Analisa are proud to show off their race numbers!

Before we started, Carrie gathered everyone around for a pre-race meeting. She gave a brief description of the course, went over bike safety rules, and asked for any questions.



Of course we couldn't have done this race without the volunteers (the ones with the pink armbands). They were scattered throughout the race course to help with lap counting, handing out drinks at the aid stations, watching for cars at intersections, and cheering on the athletes.

We had lots of spectators--big and small (and so cute).

The race was about to begin and the spectators were gathered at the pool, ready to cheer their favorite athlete on! The swim portion of the race took place at the Hart Park community pool. We rented the pool for the event.

At 10:10 the first wave began! There were five pink-capped women in the first wave--Analisa, Robin, Shelli, Camie, and Leah. The length of the swim leg was 250 yards, which is ten lengths of the pool. After the race, one woman told me that after five strokes she realized this was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done!

Camie looks great!

The first woman out of the water--Robin! (I love how Analisa is cheering from the pool. That's support!)


After swimming, the athletes put on their shoes, maybe a pair of shorts, and were off to the transition area to grab their bikes. Shelli is right on Robin's heels!



The second and third wave of athletes nervously watched the first wave from the warm-up pool.




The second wave of athletes take their places at 10:20. There were seven women in this wave--Jomy, Laura, Debbie, Kim, Caitlyn, Susan, and one other woman (sorry I forgot your name).

Kim is the first to finish in the second wave and she's pumped!

The second wave quickly changes and gets ready for the next part of the race.

The third (and last) wave gets ready to show their swimming skills--Joni, Mary Ann, Cindy, Elizabeth, Debera. They started at 10:30.





All swim strokes were allowed in our race. We also had kick boards available for anyone who needed a little extra help.



After the swim, they had a short run down to the bike transition area where they hopped on their bikes for a five mile ride. An aid station was set up at the half-way point to quench the athlete's thirst with water and Heed sports drink.



After the bike leg, the athletes returned their bikes to the transition area and started the two mile run.



The run course traveled through the park, in between the baseball fields, and back onto the bike path. A second aid station was set up at the half-way point of the run course.



Our first athlete to come in was Shelli Thompson. She finished with a time of 49:27 minutes. She couldn't have been happier.



Second and third place were neck-and-neck during the run. They spotted the finish line and sprinted towards it. But about 10 feet before the finish line they both slowed down. Why?



Robin decided she needed to lose a little weight before finishing. Leah started gagging too, but she was able to do it while running. Leah finished 17 seconds before Robin.

Everyone was happy to cross the finish line! They were now officially triathletes!

Good job, ladies! You had reservations, but you showed us that you could do it! (Good job, Mom!)

Each athlete received a medal and a goodie bag filled with Competitor magazine, Hammer gels, Heed sports drinks packets, GU gels, CytoMax recovery drink packets, coupons for A Snails Pace Running Shop, and info on future races in the community. Thank you to all of our sponsors!



Congrats to Shelli, Leah, and Robin who claimed the podium spots in the 1st Annual Give It a Tri-Athlon!



We did it! Although we didn't participate in the race, I felt like we did. We were up at the crack of dawn marking the course and running around from the pool to the transition area to the finish line. We are so happy that our triathlon was a success! And by success, I mean that we were able to enable women be more active and push themselves. We plan on making this a yearly event and hope to have even more women participate next year!