Salem YMCA Sprint Triathlon
Salem, Virginia
June 1, 2013
300m pool swim, 15K bike, 5K run
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Um - yep - the first one in the transition area....I'm
trying to get over this Type A thing but naaaa! |
Thanks to a recent run injury my planned race became a relay but had it not been for an injury I would have never thought to do a relay with my seven year old daughter Eva (pronounced "Ava")! It turned into a really fun family event and bonding experience! To top it off this was the perfect race for a family relay! It was a tough, hilly bike course but there were SO many kids who came out to race! It was so great to see them all involved!
I did the swim and bike while my daughter Eva did the run. She had just completed her first 5K the weekend before through Girls on the Run so this was ideal!
We went as a family to Eva's first packet pick-up.
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| I think this is the look of what has my mother gotten me into? |
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| Her first triathlon race number! |
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| Pretty cute race shirts this year!! |
And then it was race day! After setting up in the transition area we got body marked.
While the kids waited on me to swim and bike they had a bit of fun.
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| Getting ready to swim! |
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| Arbouw support crew - aka husband Rob with Arie, Eva, and Thijs |
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| Rock, Paper, Scissors anyone? |
Set Up Events was amazing and assigned a running buddy for Eva. What was even more awesome is that it was our amazing friend Edie Nault who is a super star triathlete, Virginia Tech college student, USAT Collegiate blogger, and Set Up events employee! Plus she is tons of fun so it was a perfect pairing for my very nervous Eva! Edie came to the transition area to wait with Eva until I came back on my bike and then they took off!
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| Waiting....... |
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| and waiting.... |
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| ......and they are off! |
We went to watch her run the course.
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| It was a 2 loop run and she was marked after the 1st loop |
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| photo compliments of Brandie Bailey |
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| photo compliments of Brandie Bailey |
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| photo compliments of Brandie Bailey |
And she is finished!
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| A big THANK YOU to her running buddy Edie Nault!! |
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| Our first relay! |
So my daughter did her first relay triathlon. Did she have fun? I'm not totally sure. I know while I was revelling in this moment she was more concerned about going to play in the sandbox and whether the character was functioning properly on a video game she played after the race. She is little but I think she might have had a good time! She did just now say she really loves race day and there aren't enough of them! She also said I'm not racing enough this year! Yes, I just finished my fifth and it is the beginning of June ha ha. And within five minutes she also said she doesn't want to do it again ha ha! And actually by the end of the day before she went to bed she said she doesn't want to do it again but she loves to go to my races and cheer me on! Well, we can maybe frame her youth USAT card?
It is so great to see how triathlon is entering the lives of kids! There were so many families and kids racing today! It was even one of the kids (under 18, you are still a kid right?) who won overall today!
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| Grace Obando, 2nd overall winner, Avery Gillem, 1st in AG, 4th overall, Mitchell G. |
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| Leah , age 10- family relay |
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| Family relay |
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| Tyler, age 10 |
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| Colin, age 10 |
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| Ailene, age 12 |
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| Jordan, age 11 |
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| age 12 |
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| Siddharth, age 13 - taking it home! |
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Brothers Jonah, age 10 and Noah, age 11
Can they be any cuter??!! |
Eva was the youngest there. Some kids came from training programs like TriAdventure with coach Anne Jones who will be offering a summer training camp in Blacksburg, Virginia and others were trained by Michael Harlow with Endorphin Fitness out of Richmond, Virginia.
It was also so great to see so many people doing their first triathlon! Some of these folks placed for the first time! It took me a LONG time before I ever placed!
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| Lauren Ammar - She placed in her first tri!!!! |
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| Robin Ferguson - She also placed in her first tri!!!!! |
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| Moriah Krason |
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| Truong Pham |
I saw tons of great friends and everybody racked up on awards as well! Hold your horses for some pictures of some pretty awesome triathletes!
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| Cortney Martin, 3rd overall |
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| Sandra Kuehn |
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| Toby Wright |
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| Beth Ballou |
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| Christina Van Der Linden |
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| Karen Deer |
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| Ann Dalton |
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Andre Marte-Grau and Jasin Jerez-Marte
Andre is so fast! He came in 2nd overall! |
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| Jennifer McDonald |
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| John Atthowe |
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| Ron Bell |
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| Mark Taylor |
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| Lynn Bradshaw |
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| Mark Long |
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| John Harding |
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| Amy Leggett |
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Me, Lynn Bradshaw, Nancy Hans, Michele Bloodworth, Beth Ballou
Photo compliments of Michele Bloodworth |
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Rebecca Carter, Erica Carter, Natalie Newman-Yost, Beth Ballou
Photo compliments of Natalie Newman-Yost |
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| Richard Davis - I recognized him from my last race in Richmond! |
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| Nancy Hans with her podium win! |
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| Beth Frackleton |
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| Justin Tanner and Ann Harvey |
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| John Gregory |
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| Super Speedy Jim McGehee, 3rd overall! |
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| Coach's wonderful parents! |
A big shout out and thank you to the Set Up Events Race Director Glenn Cook and Set Up Events timer Don White along with all of the Set Up employees and Y volunteers who made this race possible!
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| Super Awesome Race Director Glenn Cook |
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| The amazing Don White |
So Eva and I will continue this road together, finding things we enjoy doing together. It might NOT be triathlon but the journey together is still a beautiful one!
Awesome! Great pics! Can we share on the VTS FB page??? Please!!!!
ReplyDeletePlease Ashley! That would be AWESOME!
DeleteSeeing kids join triathlons puts a smile on my face. Some enjoy it, some don't but the best thing to take away from it all is the family bonding. Getting healthy as a family is a nice bonus too. -Aaron @ Body on the Move
ReplyDelete