Remembering...

There are so many different titles I thought about for this post.

On Monday our family and friends competed in the Capital Texas Triathlon (Title Option #1). For some of us, it was our first time and for others it was not. This particular triathlon is to honor our veterans and soldiers. The first wave is actually a group of (Title Option #2) "wounded warriors." To see them compete in an athletic event is so inspiring. In fact, my entire 3 mile run was behind one of these wounded warriors. He was a 28 year old man with a prosthetic leg. As he ran through the crowds people would cheer loud for him, thank him, and I even saw one women cry proud tears.

For those who haven't done a triathlon, I'll fill you in on a few of the details. The day before the race we head to pick up our numbers, packets, goodies, and rack our bikes. There are booths with tri gear, free cliff bar samples, t-shirt sales, raffles from sponsors, energy drinks, and much more. There's a lot of excitement from the people and of course, I'm scoping out my competition!! When you race in a marathon, there's usually just one number, right? But when you race in a triathlon, with three events, there are a bazillion numbers! We had two numbers for our bike, one for our helmet, one for our running belt, one for our transition bag, one for our tri top, one for our wrist, and two for our bodies. Not to mention the other optional stickers: one for who we are racing to honor (I wrote Mark Felice), another for a prize drawing (not sure what happened to that), and one with an emergency contact number. I appreciate all the identification to make sure someone doesn't steal my gear, but I think half of it is so that we can identify ourselves and order expensive photos.

When I talk about gear, here's a list of just a few of the items you need to do a triathlon:

Goggles, Swim Cap, Bike Shoes, Helmet, Bike, Tri Suit, Running Shoes, Hat, Sunglasses, Water Bottles, CamelBak, Gu, Recovery Drink, Race Belt, Sunscreen, Bike Pump, Socks, and a couple other little things!!!

Here we (dad, sister, me, mom) are at check-in, posing with a REAL triathlete (not sure who he is). We are wearing our "Tri-ing for a Cause" Mark Felice (Title Option #3) shirts. If you haven't been filled in yet, check out my sister's blog. We reached our goal this year of $5,000!!!! I have some really awesome stories to share with you about where this money is going...that will come later.

The night before the race we met up with family at Mandola's for a little carb-loading the Italian way. Delizioso! When we got home from dinner, we spent about an hour reading directions and trying to put our numbers in the proper place. Some were stickers and others were tattoos! We had already dropped off our bikes that day, so we loaded the remaining gear into the car and went to bed.

Here comes title option #4. Insult Tri. I am not 30 yet, but evidently I am in the 30-34 age group because I will be 30 by the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind turning 30, but to have it written on the back of my leg was a little bit of a reality check. I wasn't quite prepared for that. I was so sad not to be in the same age group as my sister and cousin this year. They started in a wave 4 minutes before me.

The morning of the race we all got up, got ready, and stuck to our routine. Ann Marie likes a bagel with peanut butter, my parents eat boiled eggs with a banana, and I eat a Luna Bar. My dad has a cup of coffee and my mom drinks tea. I stick strictly to just water.

My mom getting her gear out of the car...

From the transition area, looking towards the Austin skyline...

Before the race, Kelly and Molly ready to cheer us on!

Swimming Town Lake

I'll have to wait to post pictures from during and after the race. Forrest used my sister's camera to capture the moments of pain and joy crossing the finish line. But I will leave you with a couple of cute Davis photos. He was getting ready for a wagon ride!

Option #5 is the title I decided to use, Remembering...because I feel like it portrays my thoughts from Monday. While I swam, biked, and ran, I remembered veterans who served in years past and soldiers fighting today. I also remembered Mark, who we raise money in honor of every year. He lived such a short life before his strong battle with cancer and has left such a huge legacy behind, helping other children deal with the every day struggles of that same battle.