I’ve set a new tradition in the last five years, an annual triathlon!

My first was with my brother and his scout troop, me and a dozen boys. I made it through the short swim and the bike ride, but half way through the run, my legs gave out and I had to quit.

The next three years, I worked a little harder, got into better shape and completed several triathlons!

My goal in this is not to win the race, but just to HAVE a goal to work toward.

I’ve found I feel better when I am exercising on a regular basis. AND, I exercise on a regular basis when I am preparing for a specific event.

So today, I am posting this Pleasant Event from the List.  I am counting it as number 218.

This year my annual triathlon was called Triathamom.

The nature of this race fits me, my mindset and my goals so well. If you’re looking to set a new goal or exercise regimen for yourself, you might not want to count yourself out of Triathamom 2013.

If you’ve never done one before, this is the perfect race for beginners. No need for fancy equipment or extreme training schedules. With a little planning, and practice time in the pool, it can be done. You’d be really proud of yourself if you did.

You’d also set a fantastic example for your kids! They’re way more likely to want to live a healthy lifestyle when they see your example.

I’ll let the pictures show what Triathamom is all about.

First you get your Body Markings, usually the night before the race.

They mark your body since you’ll be in the water and it’s hard to wear a bib.

They mark  your race number and then put your age on your calf to make sure you race with the right age group. My girls NEEDED to have their ages marked too.

The morning of the race, you get all your stuff ready and set out in the transition area.  This is where you’ll come after the swim to get ready for the bike ride and the run.

After you get all your stuff set up, you find your friends and take nervous, nerdy pre-race pictures.  This is my good friend Tabitha who took up lap swimming earlier this year at our local Masters Swim class to prepare for this race.  Tabs is SO much fun.  So glad to know her!

 I was super lucky and was one of the very FIRST of 400 swimmers to start.

Which was good because the last swimmer didn’t start until an hour and a half after me!

Swimming is most intimidating part of triathlon, at least it was for me.  My friends Skyler and Elise told me to get some lessons at a Master’s swimming class in my area and learn to swim laps.  That was four years ago.  Now swimming is my favorite and best sport!  Don’t let the name Masters Swimming intimidate you.  It really just means adult swimming lessons. Ask your local rec center if they offer Master’s Swimming.  It was fun to have my family there to cheer for me while in the water.

After the swim I ran to my pre-set up stuff in the transition area.  I slipped on my pretty pink Team-Sparkle skirt and put on my bike shoes and headed out!

Since I was the first to start the swim, I was one of the first to be out of the water and on the bike.  It was thrilling to be out in the lead even though I knew I wasn’t really in the lead.  Here I am finishing the bike headed back into transition to get ready for the run.

You might be wondering what my family was doing this whole time. Most triathlons are painfully boring for kids to spectate, this was not true for Triathamom.  They provide a carnival for spectating families.  This was my kids favorite day in a long time. These photos will show you why. 

Triathamom isn’t the cheapest race you can find, but for what you (and your family) will receive, it’s a bargain!  Nothing is quite as much fun as a bounce house!

NOTHING beats a giant slide! Triathamom is a fun race for the whole family.

Despite the carnival atmosphere, it was a REAL race that required hard work, effort an endurance to finish.  Triathamom did everything right to help their racers to succeed. One of my favorite things they provided was a sign making station.  They created tons of templates that my kids colored.  When the race started to get long, I saw my darlings standing there cheering me on with their signs.  It gave me the boost I needed to keep going.

This was my favorite and my best race ever.  I don’t know if it was the carnival atmosphere and the fact that I wasn’t worried about my family or if it was the psychology of beginning first and feeling like the champion (even though I wasn’t) that made the biggest difference.  Either way…When I came in after finishing all three events, I was excited and felt great!

The other great thing was the food afterward.  I’ve never seen a more beautiful spread and a better selection of make-you-feel-better-after-a-race foods.

Triathamom created such a great race and a fantastic event to go with it.  It encouraged so many moms to come out and try a triathlon.  There were experts there, but mostly it will filled with beginners and people of every age you wouldn’t expect to see racing.

Here’s some of my favorite Triathamom photos.

Finishers!

I saw her out on the course. She was amazingly fast. It was so cute to see her cuddling her baby right after.

Thanks Triathamom!  Can’t wait to see you in 2013!

For Historical purposes only…my timing results were: 1:40:05.6 Total Time

Swim: My recorded swim time for 300 Meters was 7:45 this however included my 150 yard run to the transition area and all my transition time. I estimate my actual time to be around 5 minutes.

Bike: 45:45 (also included transition time.)

Run:42:37 (Unfortunately, this was my actual run time. My slowest ever. In my defense the course included a long uphill portion though grass that was SUPER long.)

*Disclaimer: Triathamom allowed me to participate in this race free of charge in exchange for this post, but I probably would have done it anyway and written this post the same way.

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