Parlee Beach Triathlon/Duathlon - TriathlonSprint

It was a good swim. Not a lot of waves, perfect conditions for a first triathlon. We could walk/run part of the course because of sandhills in the water. Close to the first buoy, I could touch the bottom. Her objective was to not get out the last. And she did it.

There was a little run from the beach to transition. We took our time in transition. Removed wetsuit, put socks, shoes, helmet and off we go for the bike portion.

Went well for a first one.

That is where she could improve her time. We were not going that fast, but she managed to do the distance without incidents. She did not train a lot on the bike but she wants to continue training this winter for next year.....

Second transition went really fast. My wife was wearing her running shoes for the bike, so she just had to rack her bike, remove helmet and off we go.

We were just out of transition, maybe 3 minutes, and she tells me, "I need to walk". I told her "you are allowed to walk if you wish". But she never stopped. She just continued running. Just before half point she tells me again "I need to walk". Same answer. Again, she continues running. Even at the water points, she just took the water and continued running. At around 4km, same comment. This time I tell her "it is too late to stop, we are almost there". And she just continued and ran the full 5km without stoping once.
Approx 400m from the finish line, I hear some screaming behind us (50m). I look back and there is a runner waving franticly and loosing his balance. It is just like everything went blank, but he was still running and waving. There were cars parked on the side of the road, and he just leaned against a car (while still running), broke the mirror and fell in front of the car. There were security people just at that place, and they took care of him. They had to call the ambulance. But the ambulance did not leave immediately, it took like 40min, so I guess he was OK in the end. Pretty scary stuff.....and almost at the finish line.

Just talked and walked around.


It was pretty fun doing it with my wife for her first one. But the next one, she is on her own......