So this morning I played hookie from work for three hours... why you ask? Today was the second annual USAT DC Kids triathlon... and who could possibly think of missing that! After a 6 week camp that teaches inner city kids in DC to swim, bike and run... BUT also how to live a healthy lifestyle (which for most of these kids is hard given where they live and choices they have in terms of recreation and food), participants take part in a USAT (with an official!) triathlon... 100m swim, 5K bike and 3K run. IT WAS AWESOME!!! The volunteers that ran the triathlon were from the DC tri club... folks from the club also served as coaches during the camp. We put together the bikes for athletes this morning... helped affix race #s and body marked. (kids get to keep the bikes when done)... they athletes were given brand new speedo bathing suites and goggles for the bike race as well... which was sponsored by SmartWater and Powerade. I was impressed with all the fancy official triathlon stuff... transition area, flags, swim in/out, bike in/out etc signs.
Next, I was assigned a racer... Patricea... I walked the pool with her and cheered while she swam her four laps... helped her out of the water and ran with her to transition... she put on her cool DC Kids triathlon bike jersey (with gel pocket in back for those long rides!), snapped her helmet, slipped into her sneakers and was off for nine laps... it was my job to count the laps for her and ring my cow bell. After her last lap, I went with her to transition and prepped for the run... she confirmed that I would be running with her (and telling her no I can't run with you because today is a rest day in my marathon training plan just didn't seem quite right)... so we started off on our 3K run... thankfully she didn't blow my doors off... her plan was to walk a little to make sure she had energy for the lap around the track and a strong finish... her favorite part of the run was drinking water/powerade at the aid station and tossing her cup on the ground... "You look cool and tough" she told me. It was HOT... and SUNNY, but the crowd and cowbells brought us home... Donna Grogen (sp?)... President of the LLS/TNT was a volunteer as well... she asked me about Amy Rivera and Todd Wiley.
Seeing these 40+ kids compete today was great... they talked about how they never thought they could do it... how learning to swim at the start of camp was tough etc... maybe it was even more special because of the saddness since last week's NJ State tragedy... I also told Patricea that I expect her to count my laps at the Nation's tri and run the 10K with me... she didn't seem too sure! =)
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Hey Shannon- I'm surprised nobody responded yet...but I guess today is SheRox and people are busy.
Good story. It's nice to see triathletes getting involved with the local communities and introducing kids to the sport.
My weekend was full of wedding stuff. (GUYS - if you don't want to read about wedding stuff, STOP here.) I'm just waiting (again) on a reprint of the direction card because they keep screwing it up. So tomorrow night I'll probably be stuffing envelopes. Things are coming along, though. We had a great dinner on Friday night so we know the place we picked for the rehearsal dinner is going to be good. And then I picked up the wine on Saturday...that was a wild goose chase...but now I have our favors. And then we went to Reading to see our DJ. He seemed to be getting people on the dance floor so that was good. Hopefully he'll have the same luck at our wedding considering the bar is not in the same room as all of the tables. Anyway - things are really coming along. This weekend I'll be in Pittsburgh for my shower with my family. I'm hoping to find my mom an outfit for the wedding. She hasn't worn a dress in about 25 years so I doubt she will for my wedding...but you never know, right?
OK - I'm done babbling. Have a good week everyone!
Bernadette - fill me in on SheRox! I hope you did well.
The SheROX results are not up yet...
Anyway, Bernadette looked good, and came in at about 2:30-something clock time. Shannon Hanley said the swim was very challenging, and seemed harder than Philly Tri. It was pretty windy out there. There were so many(human) waves! Bernadette said that there were people waiting to get into the water while she was getting on her bike.
Body marking was fun and not stressful at all. I got to body mark the prosthetic-wearing relay team, and we discovered we had a common friend.
The water exit was as great as I expected. First, I got to get all wet for a couple of hours. Then, the faces as they came out of the water were the best. Finally, the last woman in the water wanted to quit. There were two other swimmers with her, but one came in and said she'd been with the reluctant swimmer the whole way, and that her name was Jen. Jen grabbed a kayak, and wanted to quit, but the remaining swimmer kept talking to her, the lifeguards were encouraging her, we started screaming from the shore and so did the spectators! After two false starts, Jen and her companion actually made it in! Ahh, life.
Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Shannon-That must have been a great day to spend with the kids. You couldn't consider that "research" time?
Maggie has been getting swimming lessons at camp this summer and just this week she has figured out how to swim freestyle and breathe every 3 stroke. It is really cool. I told her that we can get her ready for her first triathlon when she gets a little older. Soon she will be smoking past me in the water too...
As of right now I think I will try and do King's Grant this weekend. I don't have any obligations that I am aware of and think that the major should be home.
Taking the girls to the dentist in Collegeville this evening and then heading over to the Perk for a long swim. I have a sitter for Tuesday and Thursday evenings and plan to do something around 6:30-6:45ish. I am thinking 12 miles on the bike, 3 mile runs.
Hey Chuck - I'm definitely out for tomorrow because I have drinking plans...oops...I meant dinner plans.
Thursday is up in the air for me. It might be our Friday Night Family Dinner moved to Thursday because we're going to Pittsburgh this weekend. If not, I'll let you know.
I too am thinking about Kings Grant this weekend... I did like it last year... very easy! Going to depend on how the work week goes... I have a long run on Saturday, but it didn't seem to negatively impact NJ State... so we'll see!
Turns out my uncle planned my cousin's memorial service for this Thursday. I'm going to Chicago, driving to Mauston WI, then picking up everything in my storage unit in Chicago and driving back. All that to say I "cancelled" King's Grant in exchange for their October 12 event.
I may try to swim in Lake Michigan, something I was too intimidated to do during the 30 years that I lived there...
Look at this commercial...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk
I have watched it now 4 times and laugh every single time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk is the correct link.
OMG... I love it! =)
That looked like it HURT! I was cringing more than laughing...
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