The Reichmann Family Blog: Iron Girl

Over a year and a half ago, Mommy made a resolution to compete in her first triathlon. She had signed up for the Iron Girl triathlon (an all-women sprint distance triathlon) in 2007 and was excited to do it with Aunt Lori, but shortly thereafter found out that she was pregnant with Kira and obviously would not be in a condition to do a race (especially one that involved riding a bicycle) at 6 months pregnant. So Aunt Lori did it on her own and inspired Mommy to sign up for the 2008 race.

Well, this year there were no surprise pregnancies so Mommy trained over 15 weeks for her transition from running to triathlon, trying to get in a couple of swim sessions a week in addition to a long bike ride and a few runs. Daddy was the only reason she could do this, watching the kids while Mommy got in her training.

So this past weekend Mommy finally realized her goal. It was a long weekend filled with lots of exciting times for everyone.

Saturday afternoon Mommy headed up to the race site to check in her bike (bikes have to be left overnight and are guarded by security until the race in the morning) and check into her hotel, which was just a few minutes from the race site. Ironically, the kids were invited to a birthday party for friend Kareena (the daughter of one of Mommy's high school classmates!) just a mile from the hotel (which is about 45 minutes from our house) Saturday afternoon so Daddy brought the kids up to meet Mommy at the party. Ari and Alex were in heaven when they entered the party- it was at a place that has lots of huge inflatable moonbounces with slides, ladders, etc. Even Mommy, Daddy and Kira got in on the fun.

We left the party a little early to join up with a group of women Mommy did some of her training with for a pre-race pasta dinner. One of the women in this group is the wife of one of Daddy's co-workers so Daddy hooked Mommy up with her and the group so that she could have people to train with. All three kids behaved beautifully (with the exception of one little tantrum by Ari when she didn't immediately get the chicken nuggets she wanted for dinner) and charmed all of the other racers and their families at dinner. Mommy was so proud to have her whole family there to share in part of her race experience.

After dinner Daddy took all of the kids home while Mommy went back to her hotel and prepared for the race the next morning. She woke up at 5:00 a.m. to head to the race start, set up her transition area and meet up with the rest of her training group. At 8:01, her swim wave went off and she began her triathlon experience.

With the MS Society team before the race

Ready for the swim start!

Transition from bike to run

When all was said and done, Mommy finished her first triathlon just a minute or so short of her goal time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Her official time was 1:46:31 with the breakdown of events: 1000m (1K) swim: 22:43; first transition (T1) 2:33; 17.5 mile bike: 55:31; second transition (T2) 1:45; and 3.4 mile run: 24:01. She placed 5th in her age group, 47th overall (out of 1600+ athletes) and 2nd overall first-time triathlete. Mommy was buoyed by the sight of Aunt Lori, Nana and Poppy when she got off the bike and transitioned to the run and by the thought of seeing Daddy and the kids at the end of the race. It meant so much to her to have Nana and Poppy, Lori, Daddy, Ari, Alex and Kira there to celebrate.

Just after crossing the finish lineFuture Mother/Daughter team

Daddy again was the best support crew, getting the kids up and bringing them to the race early in the morning, pushing them huge distances (and uphill!) in the enormous Reichmobile stroller. Mommy couldn't have been happier having her family, a beautiful day, and realizing one of her goals of finishing a triathlon.