The day before Little Boy’s 6th birthday, he participated in a local Kid’s Triathlon event. (Funny how adults can’t wait to age into the next age group, but in his case it’s the reverse… we were glad he was able to get a big “5” marker-ed on the back of his calf so he wouldn’t be competing against kids six or even nine months older then him. And I’m not even two sentences into this blog post and I’m already sounding like Crazy Mom Who Directs All of Her Competitive Energy Into Her Kid. Which is not all true… in fact, I was so busy training that I didn’t even go to the event. Even worse!)
Triathlons have always been Mr. P’s thing, anyway. Luckily kids under seven did not have to do the bike portion, which is fortunate since Little Boy has newfound ambivalence over biking. He wants so badly to take the training wheels off, but he has fallen a few times and it was scary and we really need to get him a better bike anyway. So it was just Splash and Dash for him, which was fine.
Getting his gear ready in the transitional area
Getting ready to hit the pool -- note professional ankle chip
We were unsure how he would do in the swimming portion, as we haven’t been keeping up with his swimming lessons (that what summer camp is for), so his freestyle stroke is still a bit sloppy. But according to Mr. P, he made it across the pool so fast that he was the first one out of the pool!
Splashing! (with own personal lifeguard)
We knew he’d be okay with the running. He sprinted the loop and finished first in his heat!
Dashing!
First in his heat, and fifth in his division (with a time of 2 minutes and 53 seconds). So proud to get a medal! And so happy to consume post-race gummy candy.
“Can we do it again tomorrow?”
Medal
