This summer we planned a family trip to Placid Lake in Montana with all R's family. We went down a few days early and met up with my brother and my parents. I noticed that there was a triathlon going on at the lake nearby, so I mentioned it to my brother. He said that he and his kids were already registered, even before he heard we were coming. but he had a health incident with his heart and would not be able to participate. I signed up my kids and arranged to race in the place of my brother. There were two races for adults, one with 600 yard swim and one with a 300 yard swim (but both had a 10 mile bike and a 3 mile run). I raced in the short swim version, because that is what they had already signed up for, but inside I was thrilled because I am a terrible swimmer. I bought myself a sweet triathlon outfit on sale for this event, which meant that I would only need to put on socks and shoes to do my transition, and I was ready.
SWIM
7:55 for 300 yards was 15 overall.
TRANSITION 1
1:42 was 8 overall
BIKE
30:08 for 16 km was 1 overall
(I passed everyone but the leader in the first half of the bike. Saw him coming out of the turnaround but never caught him.)
TRANSITION 2
0:36 was 12 overall
(would have been faster but I forgot to take my helmet off and had to throw it to a bystander.)
RUN
23:30 for 5.4 km was 3 overall
(I caught the leader in the first half and held off the challenger in the last half. Kaitlin beat my run time by 19 seconds.)
Although the morning was hazy and cool, the water was deliciously warm like a bathtub. It was a wonderful start. Plus, it was so shallow that in the kids race Scott walked most of his swim and I was able to walk next to Katie and make sure she was okay. I stayed with her for the whole time, including a very challenging 5km bike course that went through the woods for most of it. The path was narrow and the ground uneven, so I bent over from behind Katie to grab her handle bars and help her stay on the path. Even if I hadn't just run my own triathlon this would have been exhausting. Finally we pulled back onto the road for the final stretch back to the transition. Katie was one of the very youngest competitors in the whole race and nearly everyone was finished by the time we returned, so her cousins all did the run with her, being kind enough to let her beat them to the finish line.
VIDEOS
Finish Line Video
Kaitlin at the finish line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=20m59s
Becca at the finish line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=24m9s
Krissy at the finish line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=42m26s
KIDS
Katie transition to bike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=57m40s
Dad chasing after Katie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=58m20s
Connor winning the Kids Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=1h7m55s
Bailey, Scott, Afton & Cannon at the finish line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=1h16m00s
Katie at the finish line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRt8QwTo_E&t=1h25m50s