Beaming with Pride

I was pretty nervous about allowing my 9 year old daugher to do the Rambl'n Rose triathlon. She didn't really enjoy the training that much and found every excuse not to, the bike course was on some major roads that were open to traffic and she is still very tenative on her bike and she has the tendancy in races to bring on the tears - all of which I had to weigh pretty heavily with her pleas to do the race. I gave in and thought she would, in the least, learn a lesson about the need to properly train to prepare for a race.

It was cold outside and very, very early when we arrived at the Huntersville Aquatic Center in Charlotte on Sat. A. was half asleep and very cold. We got our transitions set up and went looking for the other women that I had trained for the race in our Mother Daughter Training Group. (a 12 week program I led at the Kirk Y). Everyone was very excited and a little nervous.

The 250 yard swim was a pool swim so we were seeded based on our times. I decided to swim at my own time, then just wait for Anna to bike together. I was the 31st woman to start and probably should have put in a bit faster time as I quickly ran into the 4 women ahead of me and lost about 30 - 40 seconds waiting and trying to pass. I ran out to transition and dried off, threw on my Garrett's Wings jersey, left my chip on my towel and ran back into the pool area. I got to see Nicole and Natalie (2 of our training group girls) rock the swim, then headed over to watch A. swim. I think all the race excitement might have made her go out a little too hard on the first 250 so she did breaststroke fo rthe majority of the swim but hey, she is a great breaststroker and she smiled for the whole swim!!

We ran into transition together and I threw on her shirt and helped to get her shoes on as she stood in a daze. Off on the bike we went!! On first try she fell when mounting her bike and got a little teary and flustered but a wonderful vounteer ran over and helped her mount and she was all better! There was a lot more traffic than I expected on the 9 mile ride and since this was A's first ride on the road with cars I was a wreck! I rode just behind her and out a little so that cars had to go around me. I was fully prepared to throw myself and the new bike infront of a car to protect her!!! She rode much faster than she had in our few training rides that we did and she did FANTASTIC on all the hills, even crushing the last hill and passing a few women on the way up!!

She didn't cry, complain or fuss for the whole bike ride so I thought I would up the ante a little. I told her that I would take her straight to the bookstore after the race to let her use her yardsale money to buy the 5th Harry Potter book if she made the full run with a positive attitude and no tears for the entire run. (yes, bribery and questionable parenting, I know) She was looking so good coming out of transition I upped the ante and told her that if she could run the full 2 miles without walking I would pay for the book for her. Those that know A. know that she LOVES to read, especially Harry Potter. She has been waiting and begging to read the next book so for me to buy it for her, quite a big deal. We ran and talked and ran and ran. She was fantastic and I don't even think she broke a sweat! We ended up running the 2 miles in 21 min. which is a 10-ish minuite mile!!
I cried when we crossed the finish line, no big surprise. It was a fantastic day and such a great experience to share with A.! When asked if she would do it again she said YES! and she thought she would probably stick to 9 miles on the bike! Swim and run could be longer she thought, but 9 miles on the bike is long enough! I am THRILLED that she enjoyed the expeince so much and can't wait for next season to race along with her!!!