After splurging on bikes, we decided to go for a sprint triathlon. We trained for 2 months, received some advice from pros like Aaron, and basically planned our weeks and weekends around bike rides, swims, and runs. Finally, Saturday morning came around and it was time to take a stab at this new sport. (Although Sat morning came around at 4:45 am, and that was definitely against my "nothing before 6 am" rule.)
Here we are just before the start of the race. There were about 1000 participants, which makes for a lot of bikes to hop around during transitions.
Our first experience with swim caps...strange. It's amazing how many girls look like men with these things on. (I may or may not be refering to myself--you decide.)
The first part of a triathlon is a swim. This is our weakest event, but one we have worked on religiously 2-3 times a week (in our tiny apartment pool). We both had nerves before the swim, considering that we have never tried out freestyle in a lake. In the end, we both felt we could have done better at this segment. I started way too far back, and kept veering off course. Brady drank enough of the lake water to stay hydrated throughout the race.
Here's a pic of the beautiful lake:
Here's a pic of what we actually experienced:
Seaweed grabbing the legs combined with murky green water doesn't add up to good dreams later on. I much preferred the bike and run, although I still want a road bike!
We made up some time on the bike/run portion. In the end, I decided that my next tri will be longer. I don't think I could have gone faster throughout the event, but I felt I could have gone longer (although a longer swim sounds terrible).
Here we are after the event. We were started in 7 different waves of people, so we ended up 15 minutes apart. Overall, we finished with almost the same time! It made me wish we had waited for the 7th heat (friends/family). It's a little sad that it's all over--especially the training. I'm looking for our next event...
A combination of getting out of town a little later and the travel time taking longer than expected meant setting up camp at dusk. It didn't matter though, we were thrilled to be out in the woods. As seen below, I impressed Karen yet again with my fire starting ability (and I'm not even an Eagle Scout).
Friday night's menu included hot dogs roasted to perfection, chips with ridges, and crispy red grapes. Of course all this was shortly followed by smores. (Have you seen Karen's marshmallow roasting skills?)
The ground was hard (air mattress has a hole), but we slept beautifully. The next morning we ate with anticipation for the morning's activities.....hiking!
It was better than we had hoped. This is actually one tree, not two.
It was worth a try....
There really is some interesting history in these woods. This tree is over 1400 years old. After it was cut down in the mid 1800's, the stump was used as dance floor for several years. 
We were pleasantly surprised to also find a river....with fish in it too. Unfortunately, I left my pole at home. Karen says the white water really adds color to my legs.
The next thing I knew Karen was jumping in the river, clothes and all.
The water did look refreshing.
Who's coming with us next time?
