Maddi's Triathalon

Maddi did a triathalon through our park district on Sunday. It was a 100 meter swim, 3 mile bike ride, and 1/2 mile run. She heard about it from her p.e. teacher and wanted to sign up. I was proud that she even wanted to compete and even more proud that she completed it all. She swam laps a few times at the pool to practice the swimming but other than that she just did it all cold turkey. No training or practicing, which probably would have helped, but oh well. She does do crazy amounts of dance each week and is in great shape from that but it would have helped to have more practice withe each event.

Here she is with her friends, Abby, Amanda, and Sara, before the race. Maddi and Abby were the only girls from their school in the 3rd grade race. Amanda and Sara were in the 4th grade team race.

Abby is on swim team so thankfully she had a "real" swim suit for Maddi to borrow so she didn't have to look like a rookie swimmer in her bikini.

Abby's brother, Dylan, did the 5th grade race. Her little sister Cally and Cade had fun playing together and cheering for their siblings.

Blurry picture taken from far away but it's the best I got. Here's Maddi waiting for the swim part to begin.

Here she is 3/4 of the way done with her swim. I was so nervous for her for the swimming. She actually did really well and didn't finish last. I think she was 4th from last to finish the swimming. I was so happy and proud of her for doing so well it made me cry.

Abby and Maddi were all changed and ready for the bike portion to begin. They gave them 10 minutes to change and prepare for the bike race. Each event was timed separately so the transitions weren't timed and rushed, which was really nice.

All lined up and waiting to begin the bike race. She did really well on the bike race and was in the lead after the first turn.

Crossing the finish line at the bike race. She ended up 5th place for the bike part. The first few girls actually took the wrong path and cut the corner on each lap but I doubt it was on purpose, they just didn't know what to do. 2 girls right in front of Maddi had a crash on their bikes and one of them was injured pretty badly and was bleeding. Poor girl.

Finished with the bike race and ready to begin the run.

Cade and Cally, partners in crime. Cally is only one year younger than Cade, but Cade looks a few years older, huh?

Between the bike and run race Maddi got a really bad stomach ache/cramp and said she was going to throw up and was crying. She didn't want to finish and do the run but she did it. She ended up walking the first lap, very slowly, and I felt so bad for her.

When she made it around from walking the first lap everyone else had already finished the whole run. A middle school boy who was helping with the race offered to run the last lap with her and encouraged her the whole way around. What a nice boy! She ran the second lap pretty quickly and finished the race! She would have been so upset if she had quit and didn't finish.

Crossing the finish line!!!! Everyone was cheering so loudly for her since she was the only one running and she didn't give up. I'm not sure what her final combined time was, I can find out this week. It's too bad she got the cramp because running would probably have been her best event. Anyway, she finished a triathalon and we are so very proud of her!