Green Bay Triathlon 2011

Green Bay Triathlon,

Yes i owe you some reports so i will get you caught up as quickly as possible.

Well to start with my 11yr old Daughter did her first ever Triathlon. For me this was more important than my Triathlon this weekend. She was fantastic! She was a little nervous to start with. I took her up on Sat and she loved having all the attention on her. She kept saying over and over again 'thanks for doing this for me Daddy, i feel so special'.

I spent some time explaining to her that it does not matter if you come last. Most of the kids this was not their first Triathlon so i just wanted her to concentrate on finishing. We got her body marked and all of her things set up in transition. I really tried to make her feel like a superstar. The weather was really nice this day as well which really helped.

Before the race she spent some time splashing in the water to get used to it.

I told her as she gets out of the water things can seem confusing and she might have trouble finding her bike so while she was playing in the water i used the sidewalk chalk i had brought with me to help her:



She really seemed to like this idea. So here she is getting ready for the short swim, i managed to get a shoot of her just as she looked back:

And her she is on the way back in after the swim:

Then she was off to the bike. She had a little trouble getting her socks on and looked a bit worried but i cheered her on and told her everything was normal and OK and she would be fine. OK off to the bike part:

She made it the two laps around the park just great and then she was off to the 1/2 mile run. She was doing great. At one point she said i cant get my breathe but i told her it was normal to be out of breathe. I think she was worried something was wrong but i was glad i was there to keep her calm.
I was a little worried she would quit but no way! she was determined. At points i could tell she was hurting and i wanted to do it for her (typical Dad) but i knew this would help her confidence to get through it.
Here she is on the run and then over the finish line.

She did awesome! She was really pleased with herself. I didn't make her do this event it was something she wanted to do herself. There were a few kids with road bikes and all the gear but i told her just not to worry and she would only be racing herself. I had an awesome day with my Emily and i will not forget it. I hope she remembers it too!

Afterwards i took her over to Panera Bread and got her a tread for breakfast, she wore her medal pretty much the whole time. It just me and her that day and if your a parent thinking about doing this i would recommend it!

Ok next report: My GB Triathlon. But Emilys was way more fun!!!