Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I grew up watching my cousin come up from Utah every year to compete in the Spudman. We'd get up around 6:30 a.m. the morning of the Spud so we could watch him plunge into the water. We were always so excited when he'd come out of the water nearly in front, but then after the bike he'd fall back into the pack. Back then the Spudman had a couple hundred competitors. Watching him, I never thought I would ever want to do the race myself. Still, it was thrilling to watch the race and be in awe of the competitors.

Now here we are today. If there's a reason we all do triathlon, it's because of those early days of watching the Spud. My brother B.J. took second overall again on Saturday (July 28), losing by less than a minute. It's probably the third time he's taken second. Next year, next year; there's always next year. My youngest brother Edward, who is 18, took 1st in his age group and 19th overall. He was very surprised by his results, as were we all. My younger brother Wayne, sister Hetty, and sister-in-law Stacey formed a team and took second in their team division. Wayne crashed his bike on the last turn into the transition, but he ran the last little bit to tag Stacey.

I was proudest of all of my husband. He had a great race and a great time. Being our hometown race, the Spudman is my favorite race. It's flat and easy, and it's on roads that I know and love. I wasn't sure Kulani would love it as much as I do. But he seemed to have a wonderful time and said as much. He did amazingly well finishing at 2 hours 31 minutes. Our other triathlon buddies also did well, and I hope everyone had a great time. After the race, we had a barbecue at my parent's home in Burley.

I personally did okay (2 hours 39 minutes), but more importantly, I too fell in love with triathlon all over again. I'm eager for the next race. Long live the Spud!

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Testing, pictures, one, two, three


So I thought I would experiment with putting a picture in this here blog. So here are some pictures from Hawaii:
This is us after the race. My husband Kulani is on the far left, then me holding my daughter Melissa's hand. My brother B.J. is the tall one in back. My sister-in-law Kalei, her husband Mahana, and their friend Jodene is on the far right.