Girls Tri Harder!

Tyler competed in her first Triathlon last Saturday and we couldn't have been more proud. The race was run by Kids in Training or  KIT which has different events through the year to get kids active and having fun. Tyler had really been enjoying watching my races and wanted to do one as soon as she found out there were kid divisions. I stumbled on this site a couple months ago and she really wanted to do it since the min age was 5 versus the other ones which were 6. So she upped her timeline for losing the training wheels and worked on the swim. She was uneasy about the swim and they had said it wasn't an issue to have flotation devices to assist her so of course she wanted her float suit as well as a kickboard. It was pretty cute to tell you the truth.

We got to the site and set her equipment up so she could transition easily. With so many bikes in the transition area a lot of competitors in the sport will have a little banner or flag that is easy to find when you're running in. Tyler had a Barbie kite taped to a PVC pipe. Yes I am not ashamed to say I set it up. It was between that and the Tinkerbell one and Tyler said the rendition of the pixie dust toting fairy looked like a boy. Probably the result of someone not wanting to pay for the copyrighted image. It was funny to hear a dad tell his son to just look for Barbie to find his bike.

The swim was a staggered start based on the age groups and swim times. Tyler's group had about 32 kids in it and one by one they kicked off the wall. Once she was done with the swim she rushed to the transition area to throw her shirt, shorts, shoes, and helmet on to head out on the bike course. Well, "throw" would be a loose translation of "take her time to get the clothes all on" but eventually it was all on and she did it herself which was important to her.

As she headed out on the bike it was kind of weird to see her crest over the top of the hill and head out to the 1.3 mile course that we couldn't observe. It was a hilly course and she did great. The KIT team had run some practice sessions during the month so she was familiar with the course and volunteers were spread out as well. It was fun waiting near the dismount area and as soon as we saw her coming down the hill the cowbell was clanging. (the cowbell is the official cheering instrument of a triathlon) She did an awesome dismount from her bike and ran it in to prepare for the run.

Once again we sent her off up a hill and around the bend not seeing all of the course. It was really cool when she came running back towards the finish line with a big smile on her face. She was the last one in on the run not because she was the slowest necessarily but because of the staggered start and her 'ahem' long dressing transition. It was cool though because the volunteers from the course jogged in behind her. Even one of the older 15y old boys was jogging next to her and cheering her on. It was a lot of fun to watch. She ran strong all the way through the finish line where they had strung the tape across for her to run through. She got her finisher's medal and she was beaming! She was one of three 5 year olds that participated in the race. The rest of the kids in her group were 6 and 7 so we thought that was pretty cool. I think Tyler had to have been the most social kid out there though because she was throwing waves to anyone who cheered for her! Tyler also had an awesome cheering section as well since Michelle and Jenny made it up as well as our neighbors Marge and Bob. It was really cool having people there for her. She's already talking about getting friends to participate with her next year.

After her race, they have a 5 and under category called the Tot Race. Josh participated in this one which consisted of a short dash across the parking lot. He got to cross the finish line too and receive a medal as well.

Nothing is better after a race than the free treats and drinks and they did a great job with fruits and snacks. Of course we made a trip to Chick-fil-A to redeem the free kids meal coupon that Tyler received at the finish line. Luckily the cow was there and he graciously posed with my two champs for a picture. (that of course was before they told him they like to eat steak)


Tyler's one big request for the race was that I put together a video of her race to cool music. Off course I had no issues doing that so here's her "cool video". Sorry the video resolution is poor, I've been trying for days to get the larger ones to load but I had to compress it quite a bit to get it to post finally.

For a little amusement, I added a picture of my first mile race at the age of five with a pic of Tyler's first race at the age of 5.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?..or the rooster!?

So it is about that time in our young chickens' lives that they should start to lay eggs. Rosie was the first to cross this threshold into "productive chickening" and was soon followed by Lady Peckerton and just recently Achoo...well maybe Tweet... Jeremy didn't want to pry too much since when he checked the nesting box the girl gave him that "excuse me, occupied!" look. So bottom line 3 of 6 of the hens are laying. That is if they are actually hens...You see part of the mystique of chicken ranching is the uncertainty of the sex of your young birds. I actually stumbled on a forum today where people posted pictures of their birds to get "expert" opinions on the gender. Bottom line though...if you "cocka doodle doo"...you're BBQ!