My hero....

This is my handsome husband coming out of the water doing his first triathlon. I could not have been more proud. Wanting to know a little more about triathlons, I googled it. (side note...who knew that googled would eventually become a verb) The website beginnertriathlete.com came up and I perused the site. It led me to a Q&A on triathlons and this is the story written by a gentleman with the profile name, "McFuzz". I've included it here because, this is EXACTLY what happened in our house. Like...EXACTLY. Enjoy!


What is a Sprint Triathlon?

"This is a question that shows up frequently here at beginnertriathlete.com. Usually, the question comes from someone who wants to know how long each leg of the event is, and the answer to that is, “It depends on the race.” I’m here to tell you differently.

A sprint triathlon is a siren! Step back into Greek mythology and the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The sirens were creatures whose irresistible song lured unsuspecting sailors into treacherous waters.

It will start innocently enough, maybe as a challenge from a friend or a flyer about a local event. You begin to think, “Yeah, I can swim 600 yards (or at least I could when I was a kid), I can bike 12—15 miles, and I can run a 5K (or at least run/walk...).” Add it all up, and figure on an hour or two...no big deal! So you go splash around in the pool a few times, drag your ancient Schwinn out of the basement, and start jogging (but only at night, when nobody can see you run...)

You then register, and on that fateful day, you bring all of your gear to the race site where you find...

* Some competitors have already swum a 600 yard “warm-up.”
* Others are more scared of the swim than you are.
* Some will have “You paid HOW MUCH for that?!?” bikes.
* Others will ride bikes older and rustier than yours.
* Some will look like they haven’t eaten in weeks.
* Others will look like they could go weeks without eating.

So you fumble around setting up your gear while trying hard to not show how nervous you are. You get final race instructions and head down to the start. Maybe now you realize that everyone is anxious rather than nervous. The gun goes off and the details of the race get blurry (don’t worry, your goggles won’t get knocked off EVERY race), but you realize that the race volunteers are cheering for you, and that makes you feel good! The other competitors are cheering for you, too! What? Yeah, these triathletes give you a reassuring smile, or maybe a few encouraging words, even though they’ve never met you before. That makes you feel GREAT!

You’ll realize that some of the people that you thought would surely be fast—aren’t. Some of the people will be surprisingly fast. Pretty much everyone will have a smile on their face at the end! Even more amazing is that many finishers are crowded around the finish line, cheering for you as you reach the end of your first race! You are now a TRIATHLETE

You start talking to the other competitors and spectators and they are as friendly as they were during the race. They will try to answer your questions, and probably show you their really cool gear if you ask. You start looking at training plans, heart-rate-monitors, a spiffy tri-suit, and a “faster” (more expensive) bike so you can do another race. Maybe an Olympic distance race? You start looking for excuses to travel to triathlons. All of a sudden, you’re scheming about HIM’s and dreaming about Hawaii and logging your training including important notes about how you react to various sports drinks or gels.

So what are you waiting for? You know it’s going to happen, and you won’t be able to stop it…You might as well get started!

Postscript: This is my story. My first triathlon was 7/29/2005 (I’d registered about two weeks earlier) and had 66 participants. I’d seen Ironman highlights on television and knew those people were dedicated, but I didn’t expect any of them to show up at this little race...but they were there with their best race gear!

I remember the encouragement of other riders as I was lugging up the hills on my mountain bike and the cheers from volunteers at every turn on the bike and run. I remember everyone cheering and clapping at my middle-to-back-of-pack finish and how everyone stayed to cheer the last finisher!

I conned - convinced a buddy to join me for another sprint six weeks later. My wife and I spent that fall discussing which Half-Ironman (HIM) to do and how to build some family vacations around a race schedule. I completed my HIM on 8/5/2006. Kona? Who knows what my future holds..."

Nerd Alert!!

Okay, so in case you didn't know... I love weather. And last night's storm was pretty incredible to watch! I think anything like that is super cool and that's why I'm SO excited for this weekend!!! The Perseid Meteor Shower is currently taking place and continues all week with the big show happening this Friday August 12th.

I'm kinda nerdy about these things, I love them and I didn't want to wait. So, I dragged my husband and our friends Conrad and Joanne up to the top of Munson Mountain in Penticton last Saturday night at about 11pm. This is how I know they all really love me...there was not one complaint as we changed from our comfy, movie-watchin' Ghostbusters pajamas into something a little more appropriate for climbing a mountain in the middle of the night. Jo might have muttered something about not wanting to leave the wine at home but because I can't be sure, I'm just going to assume everyone was on board.

As we were walking away from the city lights, I turned my eyes towards the Heavens started pleading my case. "OK God, I just want to see one. Please. Just one really cool meteor would be great. Thanks".

It was amazingly peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful on the top of that mountain (please know that when I say mountain- I realize it's not Everest, but at 11 o'clock at night, anything I have to walk "up" will always be referred to as mountainous).

We were able to see 4 meteors as they flew across the sky, which was extremely cool, but after 40 minutes of looking straight up we were all getting a little dizzy (coulda been the wine) and were ready to start the trek back down.

On the way, I whispered "just one more" and after a moment, shook my head. Thankfully no one was watching me because I was having a full on conversation with myself and it would have looked like I'd brought my invisible friend along for the adventures of the evening. My inner dialogue went like this: ..."just one more"...(head shake)..."no, Cara"...(furrowed brow as I chastise myself)...."you asked for one and you saw 4"..."you -quite literally- got 4 times more than what you asked for"...."Be grateful"...(pause...look up)..."Thank you."

It was then that the biggest and brightest meteor of the night flew by and the four of were stopped in our tracks as 10 seconds later one even bigger and brighter blazed across the sky!!

It was an amazing sight and I'm grateful for the reminder to always be grateful.