Fi's Triathlon

Since we're in the kid-story mode, I thought I would update you all about Fi's first triathlon experience on Saturday. This tri was broken up in age groups by year, and there were 19 9-year-olds in it. That was the biggest group. The pool only has six lanes, so even with sharing they had to have two heats. Fiona looked acceptable in the swim, despite trying to do 4 different strokes by the time the 100 yards was over, but she came out the water in 6th place (out of 9 or 10). She passed at least one kid in the transition (no socks!) and took off on the bike now in 5th place. The bike portion is a mile long, so the kids all disappear around a corner into the trees and all the parents wait like Mission Control watching for the Apollo mission to come around the dark side of the moon. Imagine my surprise when Fiona comes streaming back toward the next transition in second place. T2 took but a second as we grabbed the bike and she tossed off her helmet. This was a fun place to watch kids as some didn't even stop their bikes, they just jumped off and the bike went rolling away. Anyway, Fiona then puttered along in the half mile run, waiting for her friend (girl) to catch up, and letting another kid (boy) pass her. She picked up the pace a bit toward the end, but her friend went faster (ungrateful little...), and neither of them could catch the boy who passed them. So she ended up in 4th place in her heat, second girl in. She says she wants to do it again, but I think we need to work on the running (surprise, the family curse!). It was a fun day.