Santa Cruz Olympic Triathlon

A year after our first tri together, and a day before he turned 16, Bryce and I did his first Olympic distance triathlon and my second one. The swim was 1600 yards, the bike was 24 miles, and the run was 5.7 miles. I was not in the right state of mind when I started the swim: worried about whether Bryce would be able to race bc Kyusik still had his bike and running shoes, which Bryce hadn't put in the transition area, and harried bc l didn’t have enough time to set up. We got there so late that I was literally running down the long path to the start at the beach while pulling on my wet suit and missed the swimmer orientation. Then I was thrown off by the cold, the waves, people doing backstroke and swimming into me. I hyperventilated, couldn’t get enough air, and panicked. I was worried I might drown and didn't even think I could complete one of the two laps. I’m grateful to the lifeguards on their surfboards, who got me to slow down my breathing and instilled in me the confidence that I could do this. Then I almost gave up again on the 2nd lap bc the waves were so big upon entry that a lifeguard had to accompany me. While I was completing my 2nd lap, the sprint men caught up to me and started kicking and bumping into me. So completing this tri after I’d trained so hard was a triumph in itself. Seeing Bryce crush it on the course, place 3rd in the 16-19 age group and 35th overall, and placing 2nd of the women 45-49 were just icing on the cake. I'm grateful to Kyusik for being the best training buddy and bike technician ever and to him and Acadian for cheering for us on! 

We also did this tri with Braden, a waterpolo friend of Bryce's from school. I later found out that even though he is a very strong swimmer, he also struggled during the swim, did backstoke at times, and barfed from swallowing so much salt water. He is one of the captains of the waterpolo team and couldn't stop talking about how well Bryce had done during the tri the next day at practice. 

Only after I finished did I find out that Kyusik had to argue with a volunteer to be let into the transition area to drop off Bryce's bike and shoes. The guy just told Kyusik that Bryce was done and wouldn't be able to do the bike or swim. Fortunately a female volunteer took pity on him and the heat from the man and escorted Kyusik into the transition area. When I finally got to the transition area after the swim I found out that Bryce had started with the rest of the olympic distance men. I was thrilled every time I saw him on the course and cheered loudly for Bryce during the bike and run. He cheered for me when he was finished but later told me he didn't want to waste his breath while he was still racing. He clearly pushed himself very hard and told us he was very motivated to pick off anyone in front of him. At one point, he said his leg cramped up but he told it "no" and then it miraculously stopped. For both of us, this race was really about mind over matter. 

Since it was Bryce's birthday the next day, we both changed on the sidewalk by the car and then headed to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, where we let both boys play a bunch of games and go on some rides. They had a blast and acquired many odd stuffed animals by being strategic about the games they played, often choosing games where they would compete against each other with one of them guaranteed to win a prize.