Frances' Tri

Frances had the second tri which followed Johann's. Arial and Frances hurried off to the starting line after Johann finished. When Johann and I made it back, Arial was waving for us to hurry. Frances' swim cap was nowhere to be found. It was imperative that she have one because she wouldn't be eligible to race without it. I ran to transition and a helpful volunteer grabbed Johann's cap for me (which was also the cap that I would wear the next day). After we got Johann's cap on Frances, Arial found the other one in her pocket. Frances wanted to switch to her pink cap, so we did.

After a long wait in the start line (she was one of the last in line, since we didn't get any better at lining up early), she was off on the swim.

The swim was just the right depth for her to walk or swim. And she swam a lot of it. The pattern was something like wade-wade-swim-swim-swim-swim-wade-wade-swim-swim-swim-swim. Most of the distance she covered was swimming. It still amazes me that she can swim. Later, she declared the swim to be her favorite part.

Out of the water, Arial ran with her (since for some reason a single parent couldn't help two kids, so the crazy pregnant lady ran into transition with her). Together they got her dressed (again slower than her competitors, we'll work on that for next year). When it came time for shorts Arial asked if she wanted to not wear the shorts. I yelled, "Skip the shorts. Get her out on the course". But Frances would have none of that. Strangely, she looked to me like she was going to cry if she couldn't wear shorts. (I understand though, I also put on shorts in T1. Were a modest family.)

The bike went pretty well but it was far (1 mile). I trailed along for some of it but I let her go when she reached the corner to a long stretch. When I got to the corner, she was long gone.

Then I waited.

And waited.

After a bit I grew concerned, so I started walking down the long road. Another dad was walking on the other side of the road. I asked him if he had lost his kid too. He said that he had.

Eventually, that guy spotted his kid and I spotted a kid that I knew was ahead of Frances. Apparently, a mile bike takes some time, especially compared to Johann's bike around the parking lot.

Frances finished the bike strong. She later told me that she passed a few people on the bike. I'm not sure if it was during the time she was missing or on the last corner when I was there and wasn't paying attention to the competition. Maybe it was both.

Arial went with her in transition. I quick took a long range photo of them racking the bike, then told Johann, "We should go to the run-out. That's when I saw her running out of transition. It was a fast transition.

Arial took charge of Johann and I ran along with Frances, cutting corners when I could and snapping pictures.

Her age group had an aid station on the run. We hadn't talked about that. But she did a great job walking and drinking like a pro. The only issue was that she didn't know how to get rid of the partially full cup. I'm pretty sure she would have taken it with her the rest of the race (careful not to spill) if a volunteer hadn't noticed and asked another to take it from her.

She ran her heart out and crossed the finish line just as tired as Johann was. I got a picture of her with her medal and let her pick out two things at the concession stand (she chose two different types of granola bar, Johann had chosen trail mix (w/ M&M knock-offs) and a giant rice crispy treat).

We were all very happy with her performance and I couldn't be more proud.

The kids played on the beach, while we waited to get the stuff out of transition. They probably like that just as much as the triathlon.

All in all a great weekend and three great Tri's.

mwz