Carlsbad Triathlon

On July 10 we took a trip south to Carlsbad where we were participating in a triathlon. We got there early enough to drop off our bikes at Janel and Kevin's place before heading over to the beachfront where we met our friends/neighbors from Taipei - Jenny, Nicholas, Isabelle and Madeline!!!! It was fun to see familiar faces in such a different context - especially since that would be the last time we see them for a while! Anyway... we were in Carlsbad for our second triathlon of the season... another sprint distance one! Unfortunately... pictures of the event were not easy to come by...

 After breakfast we went to pick up our rego packets and some other bits and pieces from the sales tents set up for "health awareness weekend"... Helena scored some new "eyes" when I bought my new workout glasses... the salesperson thought it easier to give them away than clean them! I don't blame her!

 Hannah was happy to share her home and toys with the gang... what a cutie!

 So we had a great evening hanging out with cousins and family... early Sunday morning Tony and I left the house to prep for our event leaving our kids in the capable hands of Grandma and Aunt Amber...

It was an overcast morning along Carlsbad beach... we both met several nice people we chatted to while waiting. It was my first time swimming in a wetsuit - Thanks Jason!!! It was a 1km swim total - out into the surf then along the beach to the transition area. The bike was about 25km... up a few rolling hills with a bit of a halfway loop... and a manageable 5km run. As I ran along the road I heard some cheering and it turned out the whole gang came along to encourage us!!! That made me feel even better!!!

 After a good clean up and hot shower we stayed a bit longer to play together with the hospitable Carroll family! Who knows, maybe next year they'll register for the event themselves!

oh and somehow I managed to get a tiny thumbnail of me during the race... not sure where Tony's are... but here you go... me in my tri gear! looking really tight in my hip flexors!

Two Mountain Men and One Mountain Gal...

NOTE: With all the to-ing and fro-ing in the middle sections of our trip, my photo loading and organizational skills got a little mixed up... all this to say that I accidentally DELETED all of the photos from our little family trip to Arizona!! You know that sinking feeling you get when you've done something really irreversible... well, imagine the pit in my stomach when I realized I lost our photographic memories of our car ride through the California desert, our fun overnight stay with Joanne, Scott and Jack (and the exciting trip on the light rail to the Phoenix Children's Museum), hanging out with Tom up in Flagstaff, the kids on the day of the Mountain Man triathlon AND our family's first trip to the Grand Canyon!!! YIKES!!! YUCK!!! It urks me even more now!!! Anyway... we did manage to copy a few photos from the triathlon site and a few from "our Angel" who looked after the kids during the event. Anyway... you'll get the general idea of the event and I'll try to paint the pictures of the trip that are missing.


Okay, so here's what happened. On July 15 we packed up my dad's truck with our bikes, tri gear, kids stuff and a few snacks and drove through the California desert, past Phoenix and over to Mesa, Arizona where we were met by my old uni friends Joanne and Scott and their son Jack. It was so great to see them again and be back in the desert paradise of AZ. Bright and early the next morning, our good friend Tom came over to pick up Tony for a male bonding adventure in Sedona to the north.

While Tony and Tom were exploring the outdoor beauty Arizona has to offer, Joanne and I took the kids into the city where we played all afternoon at the amazing Phoenix Children's Museum. What a fabulous place... I loved the 'noodle forest' (made from those pool toys hanging from the rafters), the play kitchen with fabric pizza bases and felt salads, the cool tracks for marbles to roll down and around, and the moveable courses kids could create their own obstacle courses!!! It was an inspirational place! It was fun to ride the light rail through the city past our alma mater - Arizona State University!!! Tempe has changed quite a bit, but the heat is still the same! We all had ice cream after that hot outing!

After another lovely evening of Leith hospitality we had to say good-bye on Saturday... and we headed up north to meet Tony at Tom's place. We had a bit of a play at his local water park before heading up toward Flagstaff where we were going to have our second triathlon in 7 days! Originally we had planned to leave the kids in CA with my parents so that Tony and I could have a bit of time on our own... but alas, those plans were foiled by my mom's injured knee... so we had a bit of a dilemma - who would watch our kids while we participated in the triathlon? Well, we got creative - we found an on-line service that hooked us up with a caregiver who we met on that Saturday before the event. (Don't worry, she had a police check to be registered with the service) Angel was just that - she was nice, experienced, local and enthusiastic... so I felt comfortable to leave her to mind the kids for the two hours we'd be running around.

Travelling with Tom was great - he knew all the good eateries in Flagstaff!!! After a delicious dinner, we put the kids to bed in our hotel room then popped over to his room next door to get all our gear in order. At the crack of dawn on Sunday the 18th of July we all crowded into our truck and made our way to the transition area to get ourselves sorted.

It was a fun event - a beautiful location at Lake Mary... the swim went well, but I was glad I'd talked to a few locals before I got in... they reminded me that the altitude would make me feel a bit light in breath so they encouraged me to take it easy as I started and speed up from there... I did feel it a bit in the water, but managed to keep it together til it was over. The ride was lovely and the run did me in... but overall it was another fun event. Tony rocked it... he was like 80th or something overall - out of 300 or so competitors... he did really well! And Tom, well, he also enjoyed it and was inspired to register for more events!!! What a blast!

We said good-bye to Tom after showers and a fabulous breakfast in town and we headed up to the Grand Canyon to show the kids one of the natural wonders of the world! Where's my camera now????? UGGGGHHH... we even had our matching Old Navy American flag shirts on... it was precious! The kids seemed to enjoy it. We drove around a few parts along the North Rim... and even bought some groceries and sat along the Rim eating a picnic while waiting for the last of the sun to set. It was magical...

We had a great road trip together and were thankful for the opportunity to do this with the kids! It'll only get better, right, as the kids get older and we can do a few more things! (Still trying to enjoy each season as it's here). But it was especially fun catching up with good friends along the way!

What a beautiful morning! The good thing about these events is you're up and at 'em early in the morning and the scenery is just that much nicer when it's still and quiet.

Who is this blur???

The group in the lake swim

Who's got tight hip flexors?

Nice bike... thanks Jason!

Tri, Tri Again

Well, we did it - our first Triathlon in Taiwan (my first ever)!!! We headed over to the Eastern coastal area for the Miaoli International Triathlon with FLASH - our team from Howard's bike shop near Tony's work  - on Saturday morning for a weekend of recreational companionship - just us and a couple thousand other people!!!

Saturday's race was a Sprint Disance Triathlon - 750m swim, 20km (very loosely measured) bike, 5km run - so this was my race. Thankfully I was in the first group with most of the other women, so we were able to swim without running over the top of everyone (or getting run over the top of)...

I completed the swim in a decent time, though I really felt so slow and couldn't seem to find my regular rhythm... so next it was on to the bike - my NEW beautiful road bike (which you can't really see here, but you'll see someday I'm sure)...

Here's some of the other team members - aka our fan club... it was really nice to have friends cheering for me through this event... it did make a difference.

So here I am... at the last 2 minutes of my run... phew... a bit of the run was uphill... a fair bit was uphill (after we'd ridden uphill too) so I was hurting... but there they were - Tony & the gang up the hill hollering for me...

and then it was all done!!! I made it in 1:48:17 - 13th in the women's division (only 38 of us) but only 21 minutes slower than the fastest woman - so I thought that wasn't too bad for my first try!!!

Justin was our buddy we met on the last race!!!  Well done, buddy!!!

The kids were real troopers through the whole thing - it was not always that exciting for them, but they were happily cheering us along!

My friend Karen also completed the race... she had a few things go wrong right as the race was about to start, but she was able to conquer the circumstances and make it!!! I find her quite inspirational... she's willing to give it a go!! Great work, Karen!!!

After a quick shower, we finally made it to the banquet meal held at a sports stadium. Thankfully we had a few friends who arrived early enough to save us a table with some food... it was a feeding frenzy for about 20 minutes til the food finally hit our heads and we all laid off a bit. There was a live band and it was all rather buzzy, but we had to get the kids home to sleep and the others still had their race the next day!

We stayed in a comfortable 'minsu' about 20 minutes from the venue, so we didn't have to get up at a ridiculously early time... however, all four of us in the same room meant morning came all too early for Tony who was gearing up for his race.

So, Sunday was the Olympic Distance Triathlon - 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run - twice the fun I had the day before (I think I'm gonna stick with the shorter ones for a bit til I get used to it a bit more). Julianna was proud of her mountain bike and was not going to let anyone tell her differently... you go, girl!!!

Wu Kong - he's the manager of the shop - he's always making sure everyone else is settled first before taking care of himself...

Karen's husband, Bob, also participated so it was fun to see him again... we first met them at a swimming event last year and now Karen & I are in the same BSF discussion group so we see each other every week.

The kids and I stayed to watch all of our friends complete their swim... poor ole Helena, though... had to be strapped in her stroller for this part and this was the view she had the whole time... lots of lycra!!!

Wu Kong psyching himself up for his pre-swim wait...

Michael, the blur, came past on his way to the cycling... he came in 2nd overall in his division and I'm not sure what his overall time was - maybe 9 or 11th... I can't remember but he was pretty darn fast.

Julianna was a fast swimmer too... she motored past...

but here's the guy we were really looking for!!! Good job, baba!!! He did his swim in just 31 minutes... nice pace!!!

Helena was like the rest of us athletes - eating our bananas...

After everyone we knew made it out of the water, we headed over to the finish line area so the kids could play a bit (and make sure we caught Tony at the end).

We had great 'seats' for watching the athletes come in to the finish line... the kids were pretty patient, but really - it was hot and they were tired - I was so impressed that they did as well as they did.

And there he is... Tony!!! Yahoo!!! He made it in 2:33:46... 31st out of 177 in his men's division (the 35+) - WELL DONE!!! He was pretty pleased and we were very proud of him!!!

 

This was great... as tired as the kids were we waited around to collect a prize for our buddy Michael who placed 2nd in his division... and the best part was that Tony got to collect the prize!!! Maybe next time he'll be up there collecting his own prize... may it be so!!!

When it was all said and done, we went back to the minsu for a shower and a somewhat relaxed meal together before hitting the road for our 2+ hour drive back to the city...

What a blast... I think we'll do it again sometime!!!