Trying the Tri

I am a morning person. Always have been (even as a teenager), and I'm guessing always will be. There's only a few things, however, that could get me out of bed with an excited smile at 5:15. A flight to Hawaii. Christmas morning. The promise of a surprise present from my husband "as soon as you wake up."

And a race. I'd definitely have to put that on the list, too.

So on a GORGEOUS Sunday morning, Nick, Jonathan, my dad, our new foreign exchange student Celia and I headed out to Fern Ridge. For our first triathlon! Well, okay, we only did the relay. But it's a baby step!

Nickolas thinks Michael Phelps thoughts as he prepares to zoom across the lake. 500 meters of it, anyways.

 I am so bursting with pride for my man. He has never entered any sort of swim competition before -- in fact, I taught him how to swim on our honeymoon. He started swimming in his gym's pool last year and discovered he really liked it.

 He's pretty good at it, too!

 Nick said there was lots of clawing and kicking, but he triumped. And hey, I FINALLY found a use for the tattoo on his back -- it comes in handy for identifying him from the  shore!

Nick ran in from the water like a pro. He finished in the top 25%!

Now on to the transition area where Jonathan was waiting.

This is how fast Jonathan was moving....or maybe I just couldn't get the cameria in focus fast enough.

 Jonathan's part of the triathlon was the longest, both in mileage and time, so Nick and I had a while to wait. Over 25 miles to wait, in fact.

 We knew approximately what time Jonathan would finish in, but I wanted to ready with plenty of time to spare. So I got in the transition area and waited some more.

Poor Jonathan. The first part of his race went not-so-well; his chain popped off first thing and he pedaled himself flat on his face on the concrete. But he picked himself up and finished strong.

 Passing the timing chip on is a delicate operation!

 And I'm off!

 Analyzing these photos leaves me both happy and slightly grossed out. The good parts:

• I ran a 5k at an 8:20 pace, which is seriously COOKIN' for this short, slow girl.
• I definitely have plenty of muscle tone in my legs....maybe too much....
• I'm wearing my Compassion race shirt. And I love my running skirt that I got on sale for $8, thank you very much.

And the self-critical voice:

• My feet barely leave the ground when I run. Why can't I just look normal at something I've been doing for so long and that feels so natural and good?!?!
• Apparently my new stride I'm trying out still needs some tweaking.
• Do I have to look like a bucky beaver when I run? I swear I had braces!
• And seriously, my legs make me think of timber. Very short timber.

 Go Compassion!

 Crossing the finish line felt so great. I really don't think I could have run it any faster at this stage of my life.

The Kupper Sandwich. Or, as Nick insists it be called, The Riddle Sandwich, because "after all, you don't call it a sourdough sandwich, you call it a ham sandwich!"

And one more thing.....we won our relay division with a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds!