September 19 - Captain Kids Triathlon

Aquastar Swimmers getting ready to race!

Last weekend Julia and Luke competed in the Captain Kids Triathlon at Moody Gardens, in Galveston. We signed up with some of our Aquastar friends this time around. In the triathlon world, kids compete as of their age on 12/31 so kids with early calendar year birthdays have an inherent advantage. 10 and under competitors have a shorter distance while 11 and older is usually double the distance. Julia competed in the 10 year old age group and Luke the 8 year old age group, both called the "mini-mates." The race consisted of a 100M swim, 2 mile bike and 1/2 mile run (very similar to the other triathlon they did, this one had a shorter bike). 

Julia running (sorry, I mostly took videos of her)

Julia, Jillian and I drove to Moody Gardens the day before the race to pick up the race packets. We headed out to the race area to try to scope it out, specifically the swim area and the transition area. The kids were swimming in the lazy river (without the jets on) in the water park at Moody Gardens called Palm Beach, which we have never been to. We walked over and tried to peak through the bushes to see it when we were assaulted by swarms of mosquitoes. No exaggeration, there were swarms of them. It was crazy! We hustled out of there and did see too much. As the kids were packing up their bags that night, Julia brought out her bike helmet and it was literally the interior foam. I asked where the plastic part was..."Oh, it fell off awhile back." This was a 9.30pm! Thank goodness the sporting goods store was open until 10pm, I was able to run out and pick up a new helmet.  

Go Luke Go!

Race day! I woke the kids up bright and early at 4.30am. After a quick breakfast of fruit, we tattooed (temporary) their race numbers on both arms, I applied a thick layer of big spray and we headed out. At the last triathlon, we dropped the bikes off the day before, this time around, everything happened race day. Our bike rack isn't the most intuitive so I was thrilled I got the bikes off the first try in the parking garage. Success! The transition area (where the kids put their bikes, helmets, sneakers, socks and race belts) was only open from 5.30am-6.30am. There was a huge line when we got there and when we finally gained entrance to the area...they told me Luke's tires weren't full enough and we needed to go to the bike tent. We had less than 15min until the transition area closed so when I say we hustled to get those tired filled up, we hustled! Julia set up her own transition area (each kid is assigned a specific slot) while I helped Luke and he couldn't find his socks. Oh well..I told him he would have to bike and run without them.

Tanner & Julia

This race was organized oldest to youngest. The older "mates" went first and once their last competitor was complete, the mini-mates started. The kids were all arranged by birth day, so Julia was a little past the middle of the pack for the age 10s. Parents were not allowed entry into the water park to watch the swim but she looked great on the bike and rocked the run. Unlike the previous race, they didn't post online results or even paper results so we had no idea how she did but I knew she went fast. 

While Julia was racing, Luke came up to me and told me found the elusive socks! The only problem..he was not allowed into the transition area to put them with his stuff. So what did he do? He placed them on top of his head, under his swim camp, and when he transitioned from the swim to bike, he whipped off the cap and put them on. I love his out of the box thinking!! Luke did fantastic on the swim and bike. He lost steam on the run (he was adamant it was further than 1/2 mile, Julia also said the same thing) but for someone who hasn't really exercised in months, I was so proud of him.

Luke & Kabeb

He rocked it! As for me? I felt like I ran a race myself. I was running from the bike area to the running area and then back and forth trying to get pictures of all the kids, it was exhausting LOL! 

After the races were over, all the kids were invited to Palm Beach to celebrate. The kids had fun on the lazy river (jets on now), water slides, wave pool and splash pad. When it was awards time, Julia placed 4th! Unfortunately, she was on a water slide and missed the award ceremony and had to pick up the award anchor after the ceremony was over. I was pretty impressed with her performance as the top 3 finishers were all their with the team Tri coaches (i.e. this is what these kids do). Julia just started back at swimming a few weeks ago and she's only going 1-2x per week, so she isn't in peak shape. Great job Jules! 

So proud of both of our little athletes. It was a long day but they did fantastic!!

Julia and Kennedy - this was Kennedy's 1st and probably last tri..she is not a fan of running!

Look - Camilla from Girl Scouts also competed!! Troop 140008!

4th place!