Sunday morning in Seattle, my daughter’s husband competed in a triathlon. I had never been to such an event and wanted to see it. It was better than I expected, and quite inspiring!

The event started at 6:30 AM! Some of the participants are getting a feel for the water while the first wave of competitors lines up farther away. Each category had different colored caps and left in groups 10 minutes apart, so after a while there were swimmers everywhere. There were two races, the Olympic which went first, and then the sprint which was for shorter distances.

This is the transition area where gear was kept and contestants changed from wet suits to bicycles and then to running gear.

Many wet suits are now hanging on the lines as swimmers have left on their bicycles. One of the leaders has completed his bike ride here and is going to grab his running shoes. The bicycles had pedals that clipped to shoes, and many contestants left their shoes clipped to the bike pedals to make the changes faster.

Another contestant has finished swimming and is leaving on her bicycle. There were a total of 1400 people participating in both races lengths and groups left about every 10 minutes so soon there were people in every stage of the race in the transition area.

As the “masters” group came in with their bikes and left for the run, there were many very interesting and expensive professional type bikes in the front of the transition area.

But, not everyone was a super duper athlete. There were people from 5 yr old to 72 yr old, and all shapes and sizes. For me, this was the most exciting and inspirational part of the whole experience! Ordinary people, even people like me could participate in something like this.

Elizabeth and I biked to the event which was much easier than trying to park a car. This is Drew’s cyclo-cross racing bike which he let me ride while I was there! At first I couldn’t even get on it but once I figured it out, it was great fun.

Drew comes back from the bike ride and takes off for the run. He is looking strong and fast!

We head to the finish line

The first woman crosses the finish line.

Drew comes in looking great

and he is at the finish line!

Every participant is marked with their number and age. This guy is 50! Drew explained that you can easily see if someone is in your age group and if you need to pass them to raise your standing in your group.

There is a crowd gathering at the results tent, but no results until they make sure the computers recorded everything correctly. Everyone has a computer chip so their times are recorded at various points and at the finish.

Results are in, but the award ceremony isn’t for a while so we decide to go watch the kids race. Here they are getting ready for the swim, the first part of the event.

It was a short swim and anyone who couldn’t swim could wade through. Here are some kids coming out of the water and heading for the transition area.

Kids head out on their bikes

Parents weren’t allowed in the transition area, only the race volunteers. Lots of parents were shouting from over the fence – “Get your helmet! Put on your shoes!” It was like the adult race in that the kids had to change from swimming to biking gear, and then to running gear (though there were a few kids biking in bathing suits, running in biking helmets or bathing caps, and other such details.) That is a lot for a little kid to manage!

Some of the bikes are coming back in and the kids are heading out for the run, while others are finishing the swim and getting on their bikes.

Some of the kids were really little, and so cute!

Kids are running the last part of the race, sometimes with parents running along outside the fence.

“Go that way! Go that way!”

Those people in blue cheered and clapped for every kid that came through.

The female top two finishers.

The male top two finishers. The winner is in red, and the second is only 17 years old.

Our winner, 3rd in his age group, and 30th of 400 who finished the Olympic level triathlon!

That was certainly worth getting up for in the morning. I was so inspired by the participants who were as old and older than me. There is no reason you can’t be fit and active at any age. I am definitely getting on my bicycle as much as possible!

This is the end of my photo collections from my USA trip, so I will posting about Panama news for the next month. After that, there are more adventures and travels in the works 😀