Josh, A pink helmet just for you!

Nine Seconds... The amount of time it takes to recite the alphabet up to the letter S, the amount of time I can comfortably hold my breath underwater (Just kidding I am more in the 15 second range), or just under 1/3 of a normal TV commercial. Nine seconds, not a whole lot of time. This past Sunday, race day for the Madeira Beach Triathlon, 9 seconds is all that separated a man and his wife. Luckily I emerged on top, the victor of my household with a little piece of my ego intact. That is until I think back and remember the part of the race where a 70 year old man whizzed by me on the bike after starting minutes behind me, or I look at the race results and see that I was thoroughly smoked by 10 plus minutes by a 13 year old boy and also beaten by more than 3 minutes by a 10 year old girl. Yes I said that right... She was 10, and a girl (nothing against the female gender for all you feminists out there)! Lindsey can vouch for how amazing this little girl was as she was passed up by the mere child during the run.

Well the race has come and gone and we have both survived. The race; .5 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.2 mile run completed. Our respective times were:

Nate: 1 hour 46 minutes and 30 seconds
Lindsey: 1 hour 46 minutes and 39 seconds

The funny thing about the race is neither of us knew how close we were to each others times as our start time was staggered by 8 minutes. The experience was a great one. We were both wide-eyed throughout the experience as we watched in amazement as 1000 people competed in the triathlon, then we realized we were in it as well and it was time to get moving once again. We both accomplished the only goal we had going in; to finish the race. When asked if I enjoyed the triathlon my respond is always the same; "Yes I enjoyed it, but just not when I was actually doing it". Now it is time pick up training for the next one... And next time I am gonna blaze by that 10 year old so fast that she will wish she never entered the race! Enjoy the pictures.


Nate