St. George Triathlon Weekend

This weekend was Brian's annual St. George Triathlon. It is a very important race to him, and he does it each year in memory of his Dad. When he arrived at Sand Hollow resort on Saturday morning, the wind was pretty strong, and didn't let up. The race directors ended up calling off the swim because of the waves in the water (those of you who remember Ironman Utah will understand, although it wasn't that bad). They decided to go with a run, bike, run format to space out the racers for the bike.
When Brian registers for this race, he has to choose between two race options, Olympic distance, or Sprint distance. This year Brian chose to race the sprint distance. It contains a 1/2 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and a 5k (3.1miles--the Olympic distance is double these distances). Since the swim was canceled, they did a 5k, 12.5 mile bike, and another 5k.
Brian was more ready for his race this year than he has been since he trained for Ironman in 2002. This year, he had very specific goals, and was determined to meet them. And he did.

Finishing the 1st run.

Transition 1 (T1) was quick, he has upgraded some of his gear, which made for a quicker change.

On his bike, everything went smoothly. There were no flat tires or bike problems that he has had a lot of in the past. Thank heaven for the new bike.

He came in from his bike about 4 minutes sooner than I expected him to.

T2 also went very smooth and he was off for another 5k.
The boys made friends with a cute family from Phoenix, and were happy and had fun the whole time. It always makes being a spectator easier when the kids cooperate. It is much easier now they are getting older. No babies to feed or change, and no going to the potty every 10 minutes and having to worry about missing Daddy when he comes through transition
Starting run #2

His second 5k was only a minute longer than his first one. Not too bad considering that he only trained for one of them. I had video of him coming in to the finish line, but it is turned sideways, and I don't know how to fix that (Always a lesson to be learned when you get a new camera and don't play with it first!)

Final results:
8th out of 43 in the Male age 35-39 category
Run 1 24:25
T1 2:00
Bike 40:08
T2 1:17
Run 2 25:41
Final time 1:33:30

After the race, we drove up around Sand Hollow to see the bike course that I have never seen. Because of the wind, the sand was drifted over the road, so we stopped a minute to let the kids play in real sand. It was pretty cool, I wish we had more time to play. This is always a quick trip for us.


On the way home, we stopped in Cedar City to visit with my grandparents. My brother and his kids were there on their way to Disneyland. I also got a chance to visit with an aunt and cousin I haven't seen in years.

Overall the weekend was a lot of fun. Quick, but fun. I am always grateful when Brian races well. He hasn't for several years because it is hard to train on that level with kids and work, and on a budget. He has sacrificed his racing for us, but it is getting a little easier. I am always happy to see my grandparents are well. There have been a few scary times with their health recently. I am so grateful they still live at home and are able to take care of themselves and each other. I am fearful of the time when they can't do that any more. I am grateful for a cousin who lives close to them and checks in on them very regularly when the rest of us can't. I wish that I had pulled out the camera while we were at their house and got a picture of everyone there. Hopefully, we will get that opportunity again.