Triathlon Rancho Seco

My Dad and I race morning. I was stoked that I was going to be able to race with my Dad.

 My Dad and I raced in Rancho Seco at the season opener: Tri-for-Fun race. While in Utah I started doing Triathlons and got hooked. They are the only way I stay interested in going to the Gym and exercising each day. Those of you who know my dad, know that he is always up for a challenge, and so when I was home for Christmas he told me that he would like to try a triathlon. So for the next few months we would talk and see who was sticking to the training regiment. Upon graduation I helped my dad get situated with a bike that would work and we stated training together for the last month leading up to the race.   

The swim portion went well. I was proud that my dad was able to keep stroke the whole way. This is the part of the race that really tests you. It is a big mental challenge when you have spent hours practicing in a nice clear lap pool to swimming in a murky lake.
  

My Dad and I wore matching outfits. We had some yellow nike dri-fit tops with some Zoote tri-shorts. My dad swore he would never wear spandex, but low and behold, he finally gave and actually enjoyed them I think.  Our fans (meaning Amy & Mom) called us "Team Yellow".

Starting the bike portion of the race

The Bike portion was 16 miles, this is our return to the transition area to begin the run.  As you can see my dad forgot his sunglasses in the chaos of our first transition which actually play a pretty important role in the comfort level of the eyes during the sometimes windy and sunny race.
 

My dad loves to run, so the last leg was definitely his forte. As you can see in the picture, I am still trying to find this same passion for running.

I am not going to lie, during the bike portion of the race we got passed by some guys with some very nice, and no doubt expensive bikes; however in the run, where expensive equipment can't buy you seconds --we did our own passing.

One of the best parts about the race were the yips and hollers we would get every time we passed our biggest fans, our wives.  They were such good sports to wake up early and sit around and wait while we raced!

This was the funniest part of the whole race. Since the race is divided up into age groups, my dad and I would not have been able to race. So to get around this I signed my dad up as a 29 year old.  So when we picked up our race packets we would get the same color swim cap so we could start together. Well, after registration you have one of the race volunteers mark the back of your leg with your age. My dad wanted to make sure no one caught on to our little scheme and told the guy "29" and the guy looked and him and asked puzzled, "49"?  and my dad said "No 29", the man apologized and marked his leg "29" as requested. -Classic moment. All in all it was a great experience being able to train and run with my dad. He constantly amazes me that he is in such good shape despite his age and considering his horrific falling of the roof accident 3 years ago, breaking both his legs and his calcaneus, that would surely prevent anyone but my dad in continuing to run and stay in such great shape!  

Thanks Dad!