Triathlon

Clayton competed in his very first triathlon a few weeks ago. We have been training and training for this big day. It was amazing to watch Clayton's progress. The first day we trained, he did the biking fine but during the run he kept insisting that his heart was going to explode. As we continued to train over the course of the month I noticed he was getting stronger and stronger. He was biking and running faster and faster and was taking fewer and fewer (and eventually no) walking breaks. By the end of our training he was doing a 1.5 mile bike ride and .75 mile run in under 19 minutes!

The day of the race was perfect. The weather was cool and the humidity was low. Justin dropped Clayton and I off at the park early in order to get his bike set up then he hurried home to pick up Ashley, Anisha, and the other kids. Clayton was so cute. He was so nervous. He was so fidgety and I could tell he just needed to loosen up a bit so I took him on a little jog. He kept wanting to sprint, but I made him keep it slow. As we ran together his confidence started to build. He asked me about my half marathon and told me that he thought we should train for another one together (I told him that I'd love to run a half marathon with him if he'd really do it...we'll see).

After we were all warmed up and Clayton was a little less nervous, we met up with a few friends in the ready area. We also met up with Grammy and Landon (who was doing the triathlon as well).

Waiting to begin.

Clayton was registered in the non-swimmers division. We did work on his swimming and I believe he could have done it in the swimmer's division, but Clayton needed the confidence a life jacket gave him (although next year he's ready to be in the swimmer's division).

 Getting ready.

Clayton was so funny. Each lane had a lifeguard assigned to go the length of the pool with the kid in that lane (not touching them unless they needed help). I'm not sure what Clayton was saying to his lifeguard, but he had him smiling and chuckling the whole time. I think Clayton would have had a much faster swim if 1) he hadn't been wearing the life jacket and 2) if he hadn't been so chatty with his lifeguard.

 After the swim the rest of the race flew by! Unknown to Clayton, I had been overtraining him. We'd been practicing with a 1.5 mile bike ride and a .75 mile run when he only needed to do a 1.3 mile bike ride and a .5 mile run. On race day I told him about my little deception in an effort to boost his morale. It worked! He flew through the bike ride so fast that we weren't able to get pictures of it!

After we'd gotten his bike put away he and I started our run (the kids were allowed to have a parent run with them). He was a kid possessed. He was going as fast as his little legs could carry him. The entire time he kept saying: "I can do this, I've been running longer than this every day!" I was oh so proud of his attitude and he finished in record time! In fact, he finished so quickly that none of our family had time to make it to the finish line to see him cross! Impressive, no? He was so proud of himself. He finished with a time under 18 minutes (sadly, I can't remember the exact time, but 17:21 is sticking around in my head)!

I'm really proud of Clayton and how hard he trained for this race and how well he did. We'd set a goal to finish the entire race in under 30 minutes and he definitely blew it out of the water! I was nervous that the swimming was going to set him back because we hadn't really been training with the swimming the way we had been with the biking and running but he did it. He's a triathlete. He can't wait to do it again next year.

I'm so impressed and proud of this kid. What a winner!