First Triathlon

A couple of weeks ago Carson had the opportunity to participate in his first kids' triathlon. He wanted to participate last year, but we were busy. When he heard about it this year, he was pumped to give it a go.

As soon as I signed him up, he excitedly talked about how he was going to train for it, go biking everyday since he doesn't do much bike riding, and start running a lot. Well, apparently he's a lot like his Mama, because while he had the best of intentions, he just didn't get around to it. {Story of my life too.}

The week before the triathlon, Jared and I went to Vegas {I know, I need to do a post on that too}. We got home the Friday night before the triathlon on Saturday and I said, "I'm so excited to watch you in the triathlon tomorrow!" Carson replied, "What?! The triathlon is tomorrow? Uh, I'm not ready. Can I just do it next year?" I then told him that we would really like him to participate since we already signed him up and he readily agreed.

The triathlon was at a park near the river and consisted of a 250 yard swim, 4.5 mile bike ride, and 1 mile run.

Here's Carson before the big race:


Here's Carson with a few buddies, getting ready for the swim:


And their off!!!


Since Carson was on swim team all summer, he managed to finish the swim portion quite quickly.


Now he's getting ready for the biking portion. This is where you were able to distinguish between the amateurs doing the triathlon for fun and those that were in it for the competition. Some of the kids had these amazing bikes and then had special aqua sock type things {see how ignorant I am when it comes to this stuff!} so all the had to do was just quickly put their feet in their shoes. Meanwhile the kids in the triathlon for fun like Carson, all dried themselves off, had to put their socks on, then their shoes and then tie their shoes, put on their shirt since that's where their number was, etc.


And he's off again!


Carson was a bit nervous about the biking portion. There were several factors going against him:

A. His paranoid mom never lets him ride his bike farther than she can see him, so he can never ride his bike far.
B. His bike is actually a bit small for him. He definitely needs a new one.
C. Genetically has no advantages since his parents are pretty much biking losers, if there is such a thing. I can barely ride a bike, and Jared's not much better....he did get hit by a car on his bike during his mission...'nuff said.

Jared and I watch and wait. And wait. And wait.

Here he is! Yea! He finished! Boy looks tuckered out!



Then he is off, ready to run that mile.

And here he is, making it to the finish line!!!!


Hooray! He did it!

We were so proud of him. What a great accomplishment! He finished his race in 55 minutes.

Here's a picture of him after the race. Look at how exhausted and thirsty he is.


Not only were we so proud of him, Carson was extremely proud of himself. He said it was really tiring, but that he wanted to do it again.

Good Job Carson!!!!