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!