...YOU are a Triathlete!!

This post is a little late.
But here, nonetheless!!
Sunday, July 28th was my husband, Michael's first ever Triathlon.

He texted me one day in late May to say he was training for a Triathlon.
I scoffed at him!

He was barely running.
Didn't own a bike.
And loved sitting on the couch watching TV.

2 months later, we were up early on a Sunday morning watching him compete!!
(Take that, wife!!)

I am so proud of and inspired by the time, effort, and dedication he put into this event.
But not so proud of the money poured into it...
And to see him accomplish this fete and cross that finish line was nothing short of amazing.

The Tri was an hour and a half north of us in Richmond, Virginia.
We headed up around lunch time on Saturday to check into our hotel, then right back out the door to pick up his bib number and get Mama some Starbucks!

There was a mandatory meeting for all the first time course racers at the park where the event was taking place.
So while my husband learned all the A's to the FAQ's, I was pretty much Royce's bitch, chasing him all around.
I was exhausted by the time we left but at least I got to scope out the course to know where all the good spots were to spectate the event the next day.

We ate dinner, then went back to the hotel to call it an early-ish night.

Sunday morning started bright and early with my husband's alarm going off at 4:30am.
I said goodbye and wished him well and he was on his way at 5:15.
We were on our way at 6:15.

The race started at 7 am.
Swimming is the first leg.
650 meters.
The layout of the course was kind of tricky.
The river they swam in was actually at a lower elevation than the park so they had to run up a slight incline to get to the bike transition spot.

The only way we could spectate the swim was from up on a hill.
So this is the picture I got of my husband swimming!

That slight little wave that the arrow is pointing at is the first wave of swimmers!
I knew my husband was in the first wave so I just snapped a pic!

Then I went back to our spot where we could see all the swimmers as they exited the river and ran to the bike transition spot.

The swimming was my husband's weakest leg and he knew that going in.
He said the hardest part was not just swimming but maneuvering around all the other swimmers and getting kicked in the stomach, face, leg, arm...

After I saw my hubby exit the swim and head to the bike, I got my exercise in by running to the point where he would exit out and start on the bike leg of the race.


Once he was off, I knew we had about an hour for him to ride the 18 miles till I needed to be on the lookout for him again.

So I went back and took stake at our spot.

The place where they transitioned out of the water was also right where they transitioned off their bikes.

There is a line that you can't get on your bike to start until after you cross it and then another line at the end of the bike leg where you have to be off your bike before you cross it or you will be penalized.
We were at that spot.
And I hated every second of it.
Some would just barely make it off in time before the white line.
And others crashed and burned trying to get off before the white line.

It was like a train wreck.
As much as you couldn't stand to look, you couldn't tear your eyes away.
I was slightly nervous for my husband's transition after all I'd seen to that point.
But he did a fine job!!

Next thing I knew, he was off and running his final leg, a 5k.
There was one final spot right by where we were standing that I knew we'd see him run by.

After he did, we walked about 20 steps over to the finish line.

The emcee was fantastic.
He had all the printouts of participants and their numbers and would look at the incoming triathlete and call out their name as they crossed the finish line!
It was such a nice, personal congratualtions.
Followed by "...You are a triathlete!"

As I saw my husband turn the last corner into the finish line shoot, I was overwhelmed with such awe and pride!!

He crossed the finish in 1 hour and 54 minutes!
His goal was to finish in under 2 hours.
Well done, babe!! :)

I was truly inspired by each and every finisher.
What an accomplishment!!

My husband has already signed up for his next Tri the end of September!
And now guess who has the Triathlon bug?!?!?

Well, kind of...
I'm kind of terrified of the bike transitions! :)