Triathlon!

Last weekend we made the trip up to Casa Grande for JP and his Mom and Step-Dad to compete in the Casa Grande triathlon.  This was JP's second triathlon after the one he completed in Rocky Point this spring.  We got up at 4:45 so that we could leave by 5:30--in the dark! and cold!--to make the drive.  Saturday happened to be the coldest day this fall so it was tempting to skip the trip, but it felt more appropriate to be awake once the sun came up as we approached Casa Grande, which is a little over an hour from Tucson. 

The triathlon consisted of a 400 meter swim in the pool, a 10.3 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run.  The intrepid competitors got their transition stations set up and then went over to the pool, where the swim was done serpentine-style.  Tom, JP's step dad, jumped up near the front of the line but JP and Mary, his mom, stayed back. This was the scene at the pool:

Look at all those people in line!  At least the pool was heated.  Here is Tom on his swim:

You can see that the pool is somewhat crowded but not terrible.  Finally, JP got in and started passing people (the first picture you can clearly see JP in his gray swim cap in the middle of the picture; the second one you can see his gray cap again approaching the wall):

It obviously got a lot more crowded as the time went on...And here is Mary near the end of her swim:

After the swim, the racers had to run/walk barefoot back to the transition area, where they hopped on their bikes and went out on the route.  I didn't follow them so I don't have pictures. Instead I went and waited near the finish line to welcome them after they were done.  Here is JP crossing the finish line:

And here is all three of the successful competitors at the end of the race:

Yay for everyone!  Here is JP and me (it was cold so I had to break out a ton of layers):

We went into Casa Grande and had a yummy brunch before splitting back up for the drives back home.  JP did a lot of training for the race and everyone was pretty happy with their times. What a success!