Wednesday, September 8, 2010

I'm an athletic supporter

That was my Twitter update a few weeks ago:  I'm not an athlete; I'm an athletic supporter.

Because I'm funny like that.  AND I stole that line from someone else.  I'm funny like THAT, too.

So, a few weekends ago, my sister kept my kids for a few nights (woo hoo for THAT!) before school started, and Don and I had a Saturday free.  So, what did we do?  We woke up at the crack of dawn (literally!) so Don could go compete in his first triathlon. 

The triathlon is held locally, and it's a good beginner's tri (do you think I'm more athletic when I use shortcut words like "tri" instead of "triathlon?"  No?  huh).  It's a 450 meter swim (I think...  back and forth in an olympic size pool nine times), a 12-mile bike ride, and a 4-mile run.  The pool is shallow enough that if you're (ahem, I'M) not a very good swimmer, you could actually run/walk in the pool. 

So, Don did it.  And I watched.  And hung out with friends.  It was amazing how many people we knew participating and supporting there!

This is the transitional area where Don's bike/shirt/different shoes/etc. were.  Each competitor started 15 seconds apart.  So, a big group of our friends started about 45 minutes before Don, and we had another good friend who started 45 minutes or so AFTER him.  So there were constantly people swimming while others were riding next to others who were biking.

Here's Don after his swim transitioning to his biking gear.

Don biking on the left and our friend, C, running on the right.  It was pretty cool that they passed us simultaneously out of all the hundreds of competitors all out there together.

We're not athletes; we're athletic supporters!

A big group of our friends (and Don) who competed.  Our friend, S, is showing off his flip flops, because he thought the race was over and he changed his shoes before he realized he hadn't gone through the finish line.  So, he finished in his flip flops.  :)

Don and our friend, M, who did AWESOME! 

So, guess who's signed up already for next year?  And will NOT be an athletic supporter next year?  And who feels like throwing up even typing this?  Yup, you guessed it!

3 comments:

jessica said...

Where is that awesome shot of the river? It's amazing! How fun!!

Darla said...

Thanks, Jess! It's a river we stopped at in Tennessee... Or maybe it was North Carolina. :) It was on our vacation to the Smoky Mountains.

{oc cottage} said...

You are sooooooo brave! ;}


m ^..^