my husband the athlete

two saturday's ago jeff did a triathlon!! he had been training for about a month and a half. jill and i got to go watch. it was so cool. jeff and i were a little apprehensive about it because neither of us knew how it worked or really any information. the night before the race jeff "bic"ed his head for that extra advantage. once we arrived we realized how big of a deal it was. a ton of guys were sponsored and jeff said that he only saw 2 bikes that were worth less than his. he took 81 out of 110 for his group in 3 hours 2 mins. the race started with the swim, jeff's weak spot. . .

this is the athletes waiting for the race to start. . .must have been fun treading water. if you blow the picture up you can pick out jeff. he is near the back without a cap on.
once the horn blew the lake was full of activity.
jill and i then drove to transition point to wait for jeff to finish and start the bike. we waited and we waited and we waited. finally, after i saw an older women finish her 1 mile swim and mosey over to the bikes i thought "i must of missed him". i packed up jill and headed to the next point hoping to catch him at transition to the run. i was wrong. jeff was still in the lake. he came in dead last with a time of 43:16. he did however have to swim to the aid of another athlete and pull him to a safety kayak.



once jeff finished the swim he determined to make up time in the bike. this was no ordinary bike trail. it was 17 miles of off road desert mountain trail. the trail began with a 1000 foot ascent that they called "pack your bike". jeff said that not one person could ride up the mountain, everyone had to get off their bikes (they had to do this at one other point too). when the athletes came in on their bikes some helpers grabbed the bikes and helmets so the athletes can run down the shoot and change shoes, grab a drink and start the run.
at the transition point i waited and waited again. biker after biker came in and no sight of jeff. i had become temporary friends with another wife. this was her husbands second race. the longer we waited the more anxious we became. as athletes came in we heard of a racer down with a broken collar bone, another down with a bike broke in half, yet another with multiple bike wreck, the stories came in as if to make me and my friend more uneasy. i kept seeing racers come in covered with dirt and bloody. "this must have been a brutal trail", i thought. finally, her husband came in...now jill and i were alone in waiting. about 3-5 mins later i saw jeff come around the corner. my excitement was too much to contain, until i saw the blood and dirt on jeff. jeff jumped off his bike and i ran with him down the shoot (me on the outside). i asked if he was okay and jeff just said how much fun he was having. i felt so much better.

jeff's about to change into his running shows. i knelt down by him and tried to help him change shoes and pin his number on his shirt. he came in 78th in the bike at 1:35:37. movin on up!
the 4.5 mile run was through the mountains too. jeff is the one with the white shirt on.
as my temp. friend and i waited for the hubbies to finish the race i got comfortable. i decided to wait until her husband came in to get ready for jeff. all the sudden, he comes into view. i wasn't even at the finish line with my camera ready when he crossed. jeff took 64th (43:20) in the run passing my friends husband.

we had a great time. it was really fun to cheer jeff on and jill was a trooper too. i would love if jeff got into triathlons and raced more. jeff did enjoy himself and he felt very accomplished.
back to jeff' s wreck. jeff was going too fast (trying to make up time) on a down hill and hit a big rock. this caused an "endo" i.e. flipping over the handle bars and bike flying over the top. once jeff realized that all of his appendages were still in-tact he checked his bike. a few parts were jacked up but jeff was able to keep riding. on the way home we stopped by my work to have the doctor check jeff out. she stated that jeff needed a few stitches on his shin and 1 or 2 in his elbow. jeff refused because we'd have to check in, so we've been taking care of his battle wounds at home. . .
here's jill waiting for daddy to finish.