Aidan's First Triathlon

Aidan did his first triathlon today.  He's been wanting to do one for quite a while, and there was one conveniently in our town and of a length that I thought would challenge him, but not be so hard that he'd fail.  It was a 275yd swim (snicker snicker - the swim is NEVER a long portion of any tri), 13mi bike, and a 5k run.  All in all, I figured it would take him about an hour and forty minutes to complete.  His swim workouts are 2 hours long, so this seemed achieveable.

The first leg of the tri is the swim.  For this particular tri, the swimmers start one at a time.  They assign your number based on your estimated swim time.  Since I'd estimated Aidan's swim time at a full 30 seconds faster than anyone completed it last year (and I entered a slow time so as not to appear too cocky), I figured Aidan would be first in the water.  He was #25.  We thought maybe 24 people lied about their estimated swim time.  Turns out, that wasn't the case, there were 24 students from SMU who the race organizers agreed to keep together, and decided the best way to do this was to put them first.  Big mistake.  Huge.

I thought Ray and I were going to fall over laughing.  Aidan hit the water with 24 slow-pokes ahead of him.  He proceeded to pick seventeen of them off one by one (or in some cases in clumps of 3) by either swimming right over the top of them or dolphin-kicking underwater off the turn walls beneath them.

Out of the water he heads, the skinny kid in his Speedo, to the cheers of those lining the pool exit area.  He was among only about a half dozen kids in this race of 650 athletes.

Then reality hit.  Time to do the events that he doesn't train for every day - like biking.  There goes the scrappy kid on the big clunky mountain bike.  We knew we didn't have to worry about whether or not he'd find his way on the route as we were pretty sure he'd get passed by plenty of people right away.  It was a windy morning and he pushed himself hard.

He came in from the bike leg huffing and puffing, but had a big smile on his face.  I hollered to him, "Way to go buddy!  You having fun?"

"Yes!" he yelled back.  Awesome.  On to the run.  In a pair of old basketball shoes.

He definitely earned back some places on the run as he probably passed more people than passed him from what I could see.  But it was a confusing course w/ one part that had to be done twice, and one only once and we think he may have run that part twice as well.  So, maybe he ran about 4 miles instead of 3.

He finished the race in just over an hour and a half.  Probably somewhere in the middle of the pack which is awesome for a kid his age, for a first triathlon, for just about anybody.  We're so proud of him!

When he finished, he said "I've come to the realization that I love swimming.  I love biking.  I hate running!"

"Yes, but would you do it again?" I asked.  "Oh yeah!" he said.

Faithful

Sweet Dog.  Even though you might have had some "issues" in your old age (don't we all?), you probably picked the nicest way to go.  Lie down in your favorite spot and leave to the other side.  Did you know I called the vet yesterday to discuss something that was probably far more traumatic for everyone than how you decided it would be done?

My kitchen floors will never be as clean again, as when you would lick every stray spill and scrap of food from them.  Scamp will wonder where you went when he runs to wake you up to get treats from the UPS lady.

Thank you for being a loyal and faithful part of our family for so many years.  We will miss you and remember you always.

Disorganization

I am a bit disorganized lately.  Still recovering from the busy March and I just know that I'll barely get it together by the time I get hit with the End Of The School Year Whammy.

So, in typical disorganized fashion, here are a bunch of odds and ends for amusement and to catch you up on the Glynns.

We had visitors a few weeks ago - Ray's sis & her family from NYC.  More photos to follow once I download them from the camera, but meanwhile enjoy this one of our neice, Kailey.  She's three and adorable.  We went to the rodeo, and being a city kid, she wasn't used to the wonderful aroma of horse and cow poop.  Which Bridget and I find delicious, by the way.  Kailey held her nose the entire rodeo.

In the midst of the visitors, we had Bridget's (belated) "friend" birthday party, and Aidan's (on time) "family" birthday party.  Aidan's "friend" party will be belated too - because I'm disorganized.

For Bridget's party, we took a handful of girls to see Alice in Wonderland.  The cake is supposed to be an homage to Johnny Depp's hat.  And you'll never guess what Aidan's cake is.

Spring has sprung in Texas, and it is as glorious as ever. On my walk the other day my neighbor and I decided to go down to the lake to see if there were any Texas bluebonnets blooming.  There are usually several nice-sized patches, good for the traditional photograph of your children.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

I don't know what grand alignment of the Texas bluebonnet planets happened this year, but there are banks and banks of bluebonnets as far as the eye can see.  It was stunning. 

Since I didn't have a child with me, I photographed my faithful companion, Scamp.  Isn't he cute?

Another outing we took when our visitors were here was to the Dallas World Aquarium.  I've got a camera full of awesome photos including getting up close and personal with a sloth, but until I get organized, this photo will have to do.

We were awaiting feeding time at the shark tank.

And, because I am in love with TEXAS IN THE SPRING, just a few more photos for your viewing enjoyment.  Ciao.  I must go get organized.