Proud Mama! Yup. My 12 year old daughter has worked hard to get ready for her first full length (okay, extended length) tri! 1000M open water swim, 15.5 mile bike, 4 mile run.
It was nice that it was a later start time, but with mom forgetting her goggles (and having to go back) then forgetting her helmet (going back again) we got there a little later than I would've liked. But, still felt like we had enough time.
Checked in, started getting transition set up and they had you assigned by numbers, so we weren't together :( I guess I figured we had more time than we did. Bike pump was broken (thank you little boys) and so we had to take our bikes over to the Sheels tent to get them pumped up and then the pre-race meeting started. Crap. Got our wet suits on while they were doing the meeting and since it was Lauren's first time putting one on it took a little longer than expected. Getting a theme of the morning?!? They said they would shut down the transition area at 10 min to the start of the race and so I just kind of waited and did my thing until they kicked us out, but they never did. Hmm, we headed down to the water...what the?!? The pink cap wave was just starting...that was MY wave! CRAP!! I ran down to the water, but decided to just wait and go with the yellow wave (Lauren's wave). Well, I thought she was right behind me and then they did the count-down for the yellow cap wave and I looked back and she was just standing about 30 feet behind me. LAUREN! I started yelling at her to get in the water...this was her wave. She thought it was mine that was just before hers. I felt SO ill prepared and that this was NOT the way I wanted this to go.
Once she got that this was her wave her jumped in the water and took off. I couldn't keep up. Nope. Mama stinks at swimming and she is a little fish. Not only did she kill the swim, but mom had to be redirected TWICE by the kayak guy to get back into the main swim line, because I was SO far out. Then I went so far into the triangle that I could see the swimmers in front of me, but no bouy. I looked and looked, with no luck! Then I realized it was at like 7:00 behind me!!! ugh, too far the other way. I think I swam 1600M, not just 1000M! I finally got through the terrible swim (the first time I could FEEL waves coming over me), and despite being passed by 2 other waves, I at least got done and ran up to transition. Lauren was long gone. No where to be found! So, I got on the bike as quickly as I could and set out to find her, so that I could actually do the tri with her...like I'd planned :)
After a few miles and surveying the bikes in front of me, I figured she was SO far ahead of me I might not catch her until the run. I was a little bummed. The bike went around Pineview Reservior, counter clock wise, so if you've done Ogden marathon (or half) after the hill and then to the dam is where we started...going the opposite way of the marathon (we were at a beach about a mile from the dam). It took me until past the half start in Eden to finally catch Lauren! She had put on a biking jersey, so I was looking for a red tank, but never saw it. I was glad I'd finally caught her and although it was difficult to not break drafting rules trying to stay near her, she did a great job on the ride and averaged 16.0MPH for the ride! I was SO proud of her effort. The wind heading back to the dam was quite bad, but she pushed through and made it in good time. Such an awesome little girl!!! Okay, young woman :)
At the transition she was ready before I was (I'd brought crappy shoes I had to untie and tie) so I told her to go ahead and I'd catch up to her. We both knew I could :) It was fun as I chatted with some people behind Lauren as I caught up to her. They were amazed. One lady was only running as part of a relay and was impressed that a 12 year old in front of her was doing it all. There was a clyde that was near Lauren and I as I caught up to her and he had a good time razzing Lauren. Up one of the last hills before we took off onto a trail he said "yeah, don't let the fat old man pass you up!" You should've seen Lauren take off up that hill. It made us both chuckle...and the guy next to us. I was glad he was willing to give her some motivation.
Just before mile 2 we took off the road (again running the opposite way of the Ogden course) and went on a trail that parallels the road and started back to the beach. It was amazing to watch Lauren just work it like crazy on that trail. She wasn't into pushing the downhills, but she would push the little uphills! The trail was relatively flat, but did have some elevation change along the way. I started calling her a little mountain goat :) I motivated her to pass a guy that had been in front of her the whole time I'd been with her, but that she'd gotten closer to on the trail. She took the challenge and passed him. I loved it! She didn't pass anyone on the bike, but she took out a few good men on the run! Lauren just kept on running and pushing through. I was SO proud of her as she passed a group of boys walking (15-19). She knows how to do it. The miles were getting long and I could tell that she was getting a little tired, but she just kept pushing through and the last guy she had caught started running and gaining on her, but she wouldn't let him catch her. She has a little of her mama in her :) Then as we hit the last 50 feet of the run and pavement to the finish that girl just took off! I couldn't even keep up with her. She finished in front of me and I couldn't have been prouder to watch her from behind.
Lauren worked hard for this one and I'm SO proud of my girl! The run took her 42:XX and although I know it is no land speed record, you have to realize that this is about what she runs a 5K at! It was 4 miles and after swimming and biking. She is so resiliant and amazing. I love that girl! After grabbing some food, we checked results and she was 1st in her AG!! YIPEE!! So, we had to hang around for awards. We got some warm clothes on, I chatted with Ladies that I knew from TTT there and then waited for awards. They did oldest first (which is a nice thing to do!), but that meant Lauren was last as we were waiting in the cold rain. When they called her name, it was for 2nd place :/ I couldn't figure out why, but the girl that took first must've been in the wrong AG. She did finish a half hour faster than Lauren, but was at least 17yrs old (the AG was 19 and under!) and this was obviously NOT her first tri. I guess 2nd out of kids 5-7 years older than you isn't all that bad :) It was a little disappointing to not get the 1st place, but holy cow! 2nd?!? in that AG? For her first full length tri?!? umm, yeah!
Afterward I took her to get lunch and then run errands. She wasn't into eating much, which told me she'd worked her butt off! SO proud of my girl. SO proud.
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