Vistanica Sprint Triathlon

Peoria, Arizona

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This was my first triathlon a year ago. A year ago I used my mountain bike and had to repeatedly walk on the run. My son Christian completed his first adult distance triathlon today and was very proud of him. He was only 19 minutes behind me. One year ago this was Christian’s first triathlon also. We have both come a long way in a year I think. My legs are pretty destroyed and maybe I shouldn’t have run two days in a row. The hills on the Zoo run were particularly damaging. I hope I can recover before Ironman in 6 days.

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Run Wild 5K

Phoenix, Arizona

My son and I had a lot of fun running this 5k last year so we decided to do it again. This year I ran it without a stroller. I forgot how hilly this course is. There is not a single step that is flat in this race. You are either going up or down. The elevation changes are nothing drastic, but my legs tend to wear on the down hills. It is a really fun interesting course. My wife Lori joined us this year and was on stroller duty with Vayden. My son Christian beat me for the 5th 5k in a row. I managed to finish only 36 seconds off my record which isn’t bad considering I wasn’t pushing it too hard with Ironman California in a week and a Sprint triathlon tomorrow. This is a fun 5K well done by Lifetime Fitness.

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Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Triathlon

Goodyear, Arizona

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This was my first triathlon of 2011. It was an Olympic distance. I ended up 4th in my age group. My swim was good, in fact I pulled off a 3rd over-all in the swim. I had a good bike split, but my run was labored and slow for some reason. My fastest Olympic prior to this was just over 3 hours. I wanted to break 3 hours and I did. I broke 3 hours with a 2:38:24! The story of the day was Christian however. At the last minute they switched his race to a reverse and we must have been at the car when they made the announcement, because we were standing at the pool when we saw kids running. Christian must have started at least 3 or 4 minutes behind the start gun, but he came back with the fastest bike split of the day and a great swim to still finish 3rd in his age category. If you subtracted 30 seconds off his time he would have been first in his age category and first over-all. 2011 is off to a great start. Tri Family Racing did a good job as always and I really like this venue for the pool and the bike course.

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