This summer Steve has been training to participate in the Spudman again with my family. I found a mini-tri for the kids and asked Ellie if she would be interested in trying it. She said yes so Steve and I talked about it and decided to see how she did in swim lessons. One night she was complaining about going to swimming lessons and Steve explained that she needed to improve her swimming skills if she wanted to do the triathlon and something clicked in her mind. That day at swim lessons she was brave and jumped in all by herself and floated on her back and then later when I took her swimming at a friends house she just decided she could swim and was putting her face in the water and kicking and not touching the bottom of the pool to take a breath (this is a huge improvement from the beginning of the summer when we were coaxing her in to doing everything). I was so happy that she was trying, but not comfortable with her swimming 50 yards on her own so I called the registration desk and they said they could use floatation devices during the swim so we signed her up for a fun event. This morning we got up bright and early 5:45 am to get ready and be there to get her registration packet by 6:30, then a racer/parent meeting at 6:45 and then the racing began. Ellie was a bit nervous, but Steve was wonderful to stay with her through the race and talk her through it. Once she got going she enjoyed it and of course the treats and awards at the end are awesome. She even said on the way home that getting up that early wasn't too bad. Lila was cute and cheering her on the whole time saying, "Go Ellie Go!" Maybe next year we'll register two kids. :)
Waiting for her turn to swim:
Transitioning to Bike:
Returning from the bike and getting directions from Dad before the run:
Enjoying her award and goodies at the end (her race packet was full of goodies--a nice t-shirt, water bottle, athlete snacks, and a grow a sunflower kit):
In the video you can see her pulling her pants up even though I took them in last night--skinny girl. :) She did great and had a fun time!
Just for the record here are her times; 50yd swim 2:23, 1mile bike 8:32, 1/2mile run 3:40, T1 3:33, T2 1:02, TOTAL 19:10.
