Hi!

Once again it's an "Oh yeah - I have a blog" moment. It helps that it's football season again, so as Double A watches the game I'll do some typing and reviewing what's been happening in my oh so exciting life.

Earlier in the summer I commented that we had no big travel plans besides maybe Arkansas for a race. Well, we did go to Arkansas at the end of June for the 3 Legged Dawg race. The guys DNFd - Double A flatting in the 1st lap and The Klye just having one of those bad race days, both deciding that it just wasn't worth fighting the heat & humidity for a "just for fun race".

While I wasn't having the best time out there myself, I was in TSTS (Too Stoopid/Stubborn To Stop) mode and just couldn't find a good reason to stop. It didn't help that Double A dumped a shockingly refreshing bottle of ice cold water on my head when I came through the feed zone and told me to keep going. Maybe next year we'll remember how humid & miserable this race can be.

There was one upside to the Arkansas race, while we were there we watched some friends compete in an off-road triathlon. Well apparently the idea of doing an open water swim followed by riding/running off-road appealed to the boys and the next thing I knew they decided they wanted to do an off-road tri.

It didn't take long for them to find a local race and they had a little over a month to train for an event the includes a 400 meter swim and 5 kilometer run. Our pool is not designed for lap swimming and they were soon looking for a new place to swim. Luckily the pool at SMU is open during the summer and the boys started putting in laps there followed by a bike ride around White Rock Lake. A little bit a running around the neighborhood and they were ready.

Almost.

I suggested practicing transitioning between each sport. One Sunday afternoon was spent with the boys doing a couple laps in the pool, running to the driveway to put on cycling shoes and helmets, jumping on the bike for a quick spin around the block, then returning to the driveway to take off the cycling gear and change into running shoes. A few repeats of this and they felt comfortable with going from swim to ride to run. The only thing left was to do the event itself.

August 15th rolled around on the calendar and with a 7am start, we were up oh so early and on our way to Loyd Park at Joe Pool Lake, the site of the event. The guys found their spots in the transition area and set up in the dark. Others we knew showed up and before long the sun was starting to rise and the guys got in the water to warm up for the swim. Check out the sexy swim caps - the different colors designate which wave the racers start in.


The sunrise was not much more than a colorful morning sky when Double A lined up with the first group to hit the water.


A few minutes later The Klye's wave was ready to go


Open water swim is a whole new game


and very physical as there is "kicking" and "punching" as every one tries to out swim each other.

Before too long the guys were out of the water



... and on the bikes

(Hmmm - do you think he can take her?)

Now is this is the part the guys should excel in. What placing they lost in the swim should easily be made up in the bike leg and this will also give them some time "to lose" in the run. While not a challenging mountain bike course - it was a mowed/flagged patch through the trees and fields - it was not without it's perils: thorns. When the guys rode the trail earlier The Klye pulled five thorns from one of his tires.

I really expected to see The Klye come out of the bike leg either ahead of or right on Double A's back wheel. Double A came in first and was off for his final leg


It wasn't too long before I saw The Klye coming in with a full head of steam, then he was off


Now I had a bit to sit and wait for the run to finish. 5k is a little over 3 miles, figuring the guys would run a 9 minute/mile at best I had 25 - 30 minutes for them to come in.

First in was Double A


and not far behind The Klye


Now before you go congratulating the old man for putting it to the punk kid... Double A's wave started 4 minutes before The Klye's, so the finish time difference was 1min7sec. Not quite a stomping. Oh yeah - The Klye also had a flat, which he stopped once to air up and then again to put in a new tube.

Final results had The Klye finishing 24th overall and 2nd in his age group. Double A finished 22nd overall and 2nd in his age group. As a bonus Double A also won the Overall Grand Masters Male (the guy that won his age group had the fastest overall time, so he won the Overall Male).


Next up - what I did on my summer trip...