Spectating!

So after years of resisting, this year Pete finally joined in with running, increased his swimming, began cycling and entered his first triathlon. After a few months of hard training and the loss of several pounds in weight, the date finally arrived - 13th July - and it was triathlon time!

While he had a few nerves and wondered whether he might actually finish dead last, I enjoyed the more relaxing feeling of being the spectator for a change.

A few days earlier, the kids and I got kitted up with some big paper and thick pens, and they designed their own motivational messages.

Swim like a fish, Cycle like a motorbike, Run like the wind

We all drove to Bexhill (along with the bike) on the Sunday morning, in plenty of time for Pete to check in and leave his bike in transition.

Then it was rather a nervous long wait while other races started, and Pete's wave was the last to enter the sea for the swim. Eventually it was time for his briefing, and then they were off!

As he swam off, the kids and I popped in to a seafront cafe for a quick refreshment - it was past time for my usual morning coffee - and we sat down with drinks and cakes.

But I kept anxiously glancing out of the window, and realised the first swimmers were quicker than I had thought. We ate up and drank up quickly, and got to the beach just a few minutes before Pete came out of the water - he was in the first few swimmers, doing much better than we had imagined!

He looked as though he was having a great time as he ran up to transition. We raced up the steps too, so we could stand near where his bike was. As we sped along, Robbie said 'This is brilliant fun!' Meanwhile, we also spotted Olympic Gold winning Ice skater Jane Torvill, who had taken part in the earlier duathlon!

Jane Torvill (and somewhere in the background, Pete)

After a leisurely 3mins or so, Pete cycled off. We got to the side of the road, and waited. After a while, I wondered where my rucksack was, and had to run back to the cafe where I had left it by a chair... when I got back to the kids, they said 'Daddy's just been past'! Beacuse the course was all loopy, I did see him a few minutes later when he passed again.

We crossed the road for a better view for his next passing, but after about 10 mins, Emma needed the toilet. We ran to the nearest one, dived in and out quickly and ran back, where Robbie said 'Daddy's just been past!' again! So much for spectating...

But we did see him come back to transition, where he left the bike and went off on the run. This was along the seafront, and this time I managed to catch him both times he passed.

We waited near the finish, and eventually, in a very impressive total time of 1h30mins-ish, he crossed the line. He was 35 out of 83 participants, so not even close to last.

It was a really good day, and Pete's already planning another one. It was great to be spectating rather than running, but I must admit, I do like the idea of doing one of these myself one day... just need to learn to swim properly... Watch this space!