The Triathlon!

I did my very first Triathlon last weekend. Andy did it last year and was there with me to do it again this year. We did the Burley ID Spudman Triathlon. Now the one great thing about the spudman is that it is in the Snake River going down stream. I am not the best swimmer so the thought of just floating instead of swimming was the reason I could do a Triathlon.

We arrived Friday early evening to register, get some carbo foods and set up our transitions. Once it was night time all the bugs came out so we headed to Albertson's for some bug spray and then parked back at the start, laid out the futon in the back of the truck, and went to sleep. We woke up to a ton of slamming car doors and that is when it hit me. Crap I have to do this.

We climbed into our wet suits and headed to the starting line. I was in heat 5 and Andy was in heat 7. Andy gave me some pointers and then I climbed into the river. It was time to start. I tried to do some swim strokes but that only lasted about 10 strokes. I ended up on my back doing the back stroke and floating. I could still see the moon and thought of Etta the whole way down the swim. she loves seeing the moon and that helped me a ton. Finally reaching the end I climbed out and headed to my bike peeling off my wet suite as I walked. Making it to the start of the bike I climbed on and started peddling. I am terrible at biking. I got passed so many times and was just hoping I would be done soon. I made it to the end and grabbed my visor and started running. My goal was to run the whole time even if it wasn't very fast. I loved the running part. Hitting mile markers telling me how far I ran, passing a lot of the people that pasted me biking, and sprinting to the end was an amazing feeling. I finished in 3 hours 24 minutes and felt wonderful. Since Andy was in heat 7 he was suppose to start 20 minutes after me. So I waited 20 minutes watching for him but no Andy. I thought to my self I beat him. After another 30 minutes I saw him running down the hill so I cheered him on to the finish line. I was so proud of him.

While we were walking around he told me what had happened at the start of his race. In the heat right after mine two girls said they felt someone under them and so they postponed Andy's heat. They started searching the river. Andy was scared it might have been me so he hopped on a 4 wheeler and they took him to the bikes. Once he saw my bike was gone he was relieved it wasn't me. He started the bike with out doing the swim and had a sad heart for the person that had went under. A friend of Andy's passed him on the run to tell him it was an older man and he had died. What a sad and situation. The older man was from Orem Utah and was a husband, father and grandfather. My heart goes out to the family.

We headed home after loading up and hitting the jack in the box. I would do this Triathlon again, but I think I will stick with running. Half marathons scheduled for next year and by 2010 I hope to have completed at least Marathon.

"Good morning, ready for your Triathlon?"

Sexy wet suite

Very cozy


Here are the results: Andy didn't have a swim time and I think his bike time is a little off too.

# 88 Andrew Chase
Swim - 00:00:00
T1 - 00:00:00
Bike - 01:06:23.106 MPH 22.6
T2 - 00:02:40.900
Run - 01:29:10.600 MPH 00:14:23.0
Total Time - 02:38:14.6

#214 Traci Chase
Swim 00:25:30.980
T1 00:03:59:700
Bike 01:43:18.800 MPH 14.5
T2 00:02:02.300
Run 01:09:09.400 MPH 00:11:09.3
Total Time 03:24:01.1


Just to clarify
Swim: 1.5km (.93 miles)
Bike: 40km (24.8 miles)
Run: 10km (6.2 miles)

All done and time to eat

Happy to be done, let's go home!

We never get bored of swimming

My kids love water, swimming and friends. We like to meet up with our friends at our favorite Murray Pool. This time we met up with our friends from out of state who are tying to escape the Arizona heat. Angelica, Layla and Angelica's sister Courtney played in sun and water with us last Friday. The girls swam all over like little fishes, practiced their gymnastics on the hand rails and played ring a round the rosies. When it was time to have the water checked the girls sunbathed on their towls and chased each other around on the grass. Those two had a great time and they love to play together.

My little fishy just loves to swim

Olympics 2008 toddler gymnastics

"we all fall down"

Working on their tans

Big Hugs "See ya next time"

Gibby leaned last time we came he could crawl in water. This time he was off every which way. He would head to the steps, the shallow end or he would see how far he could get in the deeper spots. No matter where he went if he saw me coming he would try and go faster. He loved it.

Happy little water crawler

Trying to get away

I just have to keep saying how much I love this pool and how perfect it is for kids and toddlers.

24th Celebration

We celebrated the 24th of July aka Pioneer Day at Liberty Park Thursday evening. They had a bunch of blow up slides and bounce houses which Etta enjoys. It was fun to see her be shy the first time down and get more and more courageous each time down. Andy caught her on video following after another girl rolling down the slide.

We walked through all of the little booths and food area to find so grass to relax on while enjoying our shaved ice. Gibson loved it, Etta was being silly and Hatcher was glad to be with the family.

Loving the shaved ice

Pink tongue

Trying to tickle Hatcher

Trying to get Hatcher's ear

We walked around for a just a bit longer until we found the stage where they were having a fun little music concert in the center of the park. This is were we set up camp for the rest of the evening. Etta and Gibson danced to the music. It was so funny to watch Gibby shaking his little arms, try to copy his sister in a dance move and then clap after the music. I just had to get it on video too.

Etta and Gibby played around in daddy's hat while eating grapes. I got some amazing shots of them both they are just so darling.

Just beautiful

Focused

Etta's special "the scrunchy nose"

filling daddy's hat

All boy

He caught it

Good friends of ours meet up with us just as the sun went down. Jeff and Erica take incredible pictures and where snapping away all night long. They were nice enough to send me copies so I could complete my blog with our wonderful 24th of July night. Even though we weren't able to see the fireworks very well we had some great company.

Family Fun (plus half of Mark's face)

Me

Mama's Boy

My Precious Little Girl

My Handsome Husband!

New car seat

Gibson has reached the nice old weight of almost 20lbs and Etta is almost 30 lbs. So, time for car seat musical chairs. Etta got a new car seat and Gibby gets Etta's old one, but new to Gibby. I have been wanting to move Gibson to forward facing ever since his 1st Birthday but he just wasn't heavy enough. They are both close enough, right. The morning I was cleaning out the truck and moving them around Gibby was awake and crawled right into Etta's seat. He just chilled in the seat and drank his milk. When I started taking pictures I was laughing so hard at his cute little faces he was making. He loved it and thought he was so funny, which he was.

Chillin' in the car seat

Monster growl

Laughin' at himself

What a big girl all buckled in

Gibby thinks his new chair is sooooo comfortable

Baseball Time again

Yes, we have season tickets but we don't make it to all the games unfortunately. I don't think we have gone to one for a couple weeks. We always have fun. This time Etta wanted to bring her glove. Daddy and Etta had fun playing glove games, hiding their faces and pretending to talk so no one could see their lips. Gibby got to play with the glove after a while and loves Mommy attention at the game.

Watching for foul balls

Where did Etta go?

Cute daddy and daughter

She thought that was pretty cool and stayed like this for a while

Then she laughed and made us all laugh

Gibby's turn with the glove

Mommy and son

My pretty Princess!

Playing at Local Parks

The kids and I have been trying to be outside a bit more and we have found a couple of fun parks that are shaded all day long. Which means no hot slides and a fun time no matter the time of day. We also have been walking to these parks which in the end makes me walk at least 3 miles there and back if not more. We pack lunches and water and make a good part of the day out of it. It is also fun to bring Hatcher. He loves to get out of the house too. Here some pictures of one of the fun days at the park.

Hatcher and Gibby eating lunch

"all done can i go play mommy?"

My little Monkey

Down the slide, so much fun

Learning from sister

Keeping a look out

checking both side of the playground

Trying to swing all by his self


Peek-a-boo

Gibby learned he had to stand up to play with the toys,

and then he had to touch the wheel to make it spin.

Gibby spinning the wheel