After running a marathon a few years ago Jason diverted his attention to triathlon training. The day finally came for Jason to participate in his first Olympic distance triathlon (swim 1m, bike 23m, run 6.2m). We headed up to Midway on Friday afternoon. Jason's Mom, Dad, and I volunteered at the event, while Jason check in and dropped off his bike. We stayed in the Zermot Resort in Midway, which was VERY nice. That night we (me, Jason, Jan, John and Michael) went to dinner at the Mountain House Grill, which we ate at one other time in Midway, it did not disappoint again and the service was much better this time. Later that evening Jenny, Jeff and Michelle came up. So Jason's entire family was there to cheer him on. I know he really appreciated that and it meant a lot to him for everyone to come.
Race Day: Jason, Jan (Jason's Mom), and I got up around 5:15am. It was not fun to get up that early but we really wanted to see Jason at every transition, and we had to take a shuttle to Deer Creek Reservoir (the swimming site). Jason's age group started the swim at 6:45am. Do you even realize how cold that water must have been, this was at 6000 feet elevation, and the temperature outside was 38 degrees, someone said the water was about 55 degrees? Jan and I were worried about him since he is always cold anyway, but he surprised us and came in much earlier than we expected, I guess the cold water was a big motivator, his time for the one mile swim was 27 minutes and 38 seconds. His transition from swim to bike was well...long. He was completely numb, which makes taking off your wet suit and putting a tight jersey, socks and shoes on very difficult. But he was off on his bike. I wasn't worried at all about the rest of the event, biking and running are his two stronger sports. He came in from the 23 mile bike ride in 1 hour 12 minutes and 31 seconds. His transition from bike to run was really fast (less than a minute). In fact it kind of sucked for us cause we would wait and wait to see him and then he was back for a minute and off again. Overall I think Jason would say that the run was the toughest part of this triathlon. It was on mountainous dirt trails, which is harder to run on and it was VERY steep. But he finished the 6 mile run in 51 minutes and 54 seconds. I was so proud of him when he came over the finish line. He says he wasn't really that tired, in fact he wanted to go on a bike ride later that afternoon!! I think a half ironman triathlon is definitely in his future. He really enjoyed the whole thing and can now officially call himself a triathlete. I'm so proud of him, he worked hard and did a great job. His final time was 2 hours and 39 minutes and 31 seconds (he got a 2 minute penalty, we think because he forgot to pin on his bib number, so his official USAT time was 2:41:31). He came in 134th out of 234 for the men. It was a great weekend and we all had tons of fun.
Oh and we are now officially in CA. We are house hunting and baby shopping today, and I need to find a boards patient. The corporate housing is very nice, maybe we will just stay here after our 30 days and pay $3500 a month, sounds like a steal :)
Jason at 5:30am before the event began, he is ready!
Getting ready to enter in the freezing cold water
Finishing the swim
Transitioning from swim to bike, I appreciate that during everything he would still give me a little wave here and there
Clipping in
Returning from the bike portion
Off he goes on the run
Victory!!! He finished in 2hr. 39min.!
Me and baby are so proud!
Almost the whole family
His name on the big board
His spectators, his Mom and Michelle
Jen and Jeff
10 comments:
wow, congratulations to jason! how exciting!!! i cant wait to see you on saturday! chris, willow and i would love to come and see you guys...and stacie too ;) we've been wanting to go see her for a while now.
I cannot imagine how grueling a triathlon is! That is a huge accomplishment. I couldn't help but notice in that swim picture that Jason is the only one with a sleeveless wet suit- uh, brrr! You guys always seem to find the best places to eat and stay. You look so cute Ginny!
Ooooh, nice work jason. I'm very impressed.
I can't believe that you guys have moved already. I'll miss you tons but i'm way excited to read all about your new place and job and whatnot.
I can't say that I read all of that....haha...anyway, it was so fun to see you yesterday. I keep thinking about how you said that those 40 year old ladies were flirting with your bro-in-law. That's so funny! And I like the picture of Jason with all the bikes..his face is funny!
Way to go Jason!!! What an accomplishment, how awesome. Congrats! Can't wait to hear more about California and all your new adventures there. Post more pics really soon!
Way to go Jas, that's a huge accomplishment! Remember how we talked about me running the half marathon...well, that's no longer doable :( I'll tell ya why lata!
I am so glad you posted this! I was wondering how this went! Jason your energy is inspiring! We are very proud of you, not many people can say they have done this! Way to go!
I hope the move and everything has gone well so far! I need to call you and see how the house hunt is going! It is crazy to picture you not in your little Provo apartment. I am not going to lie I dont like it! We have so many good memories there! Okay, this is turning into a novel! So I will give you a call soon!
Did you see Tom???
First of all, congrats Jason, thats cool you did that. So you guys are now finally back in CA? How is it? I'm pretty sure we'll be making a trip down there sometime after the summer semester is done here but just don't know an exact date. It would be fun to meet up when we do go down.
Ginny,
I found your blog's from Kaysi Van Dyke's...How exciting that you're pregnant! Congratulations! You guys are so cute!
Brittany Lemon (Elliott)
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