We like to celebrate half birthdays in our house. Paul is exactly 6 months older than I am. His birthday is my half birthday, and my birthday is his half birthday! So sometimes we get each other half birthday presents and I am always looking for an excuse to have cake! This entry is late but Susie turned 3 1/2 a few weeks ago! We made a half birthday cake to celebrate. It was fun!
Susie and I like to make funny faces at each other. She will tell me, "now make a scary face" or a happy face, or a sleepy face. Here she is making a mad face and a scary face. She is such a silly girl!
I have been so excited to do my first triathlon. I started training for it right after we moved to Flagstaff in June. I decided to sign up for the Sprint Triathlon which is .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. I thought those distances sounded pretty easy. As I was training I figured out that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! We bought a membership at the aquaplex so I could swim laps and Paul took his bike in to get tuned up so I could practice on that. I am completely new to swimming and biking. I think I made a lot of progress (especially with swimming) but I have a long way to go. I read that race day should never be your first time swimming in open water so I went to Lake Mary to practice swimming there a few times. Lake Mary is really brown and has lots of crawfish. I sliced my foot open on something sharp the first time I went (I'm hoping it was a rock and not a crawfish) but the experience made me really squeamish of swimming in lakes. I didn't like putting my face in the water and seeing all brown.. gross.
I was pretty scared the morning of the race. Especially for the swim part. I came down with a cold 2 days before so I said lots of prayers that I wouldn't be too anxious and that I would feel up to doing the race. I drove up to Utah and stayed with my sister Tiffany in Kanarraville on Friday. I woke up really early the next morning and drove down the Sand Hollow Lake. I felt pretty good but I was still so nervous!! My dad drove down and it was so nice to have him there. It really helped my nerves.
They start swimmers at different times based on the division you sign up for. I signed up in the beginner division and we went last. We jumped in the water and then counted down. The lake was beautiful and I loved the swimming part of the race! It was so fun! The hardest part was steering. I wasn't used to "sighting" because I swim in a pool. I kept having to realign. At the pool I can swim a half mile in less than 20 minutes and the swim portion of the race took me 26 so I was happy with that. It's pretty slow compared to most people but I will keep practicing. :)
The bike portion was next so I got out of the water and dad handed me my flip flops and I ran to the transition area. I got my gear on and took off. The bike portion was the hardest for me, which is funny because when I signed up for this I was sure the biking was going to be the easiest. Riding a bike is easy right? I'm not very good at biking. There were lots of hills. One of the hills is so miserable they call is "Nemesis." It is 6% grade uphill for a mile. Eh. A lot of people were walking their bikes. I was able to push through it but barely! It took me about an hour to do the bike. (Again... really slow I know).
Last was the run. I run a lot so I was able to pass a bunch of people that passed me on the bike portion. It was so fun to see my dad at the finish line cheering me on. He says he is going to do the next one with me!! How cool is that!!? I'm not sure when I'll do another but I definitely will. It was so fun. I'm not very competitive but it's just fun to try new things and be outside. I really loved it!
And we're off!
Can you see me?
This is me looking back to make sure I wasn't last ha ha!
Running to get my bike
Finishing the bike race
I met so many nice people at the race! This is Taylor. She is from Logan.
After the race I went to my Mom and Dad's and showered. Then my dad and I went out to lunch. It was such a fun day. I drove home that same afternoon because Paul needed to work the next day. This was the sign that I found when I got home. :)
