Mr. Triathalon (A.K.A. Ephraim)

      Last year (2022) Ephraim decided he wanted to do triathlons. He had just run his first successful Syttende Mai fun run, and was flush with success.   In order to be the uber supportive parent, I signed him up for all the kids tris I could find within an hours drive. There were three of them, on three consecutitive Saturdays in August!  Ephraim competed in Middleton, Oregon, and Janesville.  I thought me might get burnt out or turn cranky by the last one, but he was still enjoying it!  He really gave each race his best, and somehow kept a good attitude.

       Funny memories from last year include him picking up trash (all the tossed paper water cups) as he ran the route for his race in Janesville, as well as swimming the wrong way in Oregon, and biking the wrong way in Middleton and having a volunteer go find him.    There is always an unexpected element when this kids is involved!  It keeps life spicey.

     Here  are some photos from last year, since I didn't blog his incredibe hard work on here then:

                                         

     This year, I thought our family could do without spending the three final Saturdays of the summer at triathlons, so I decided to just pick one.  Ephraim also was less motivated to train daily for them like he did last year.  I think he figured he had done it before, it was no big deal.  I chose the Janesville triathlon, because it had the shortest distances, the least number of entrants, and the best viewing options for spectators.   The course there is a 40M swim, 2.5 mile bike ride, and .5 mile run. It was a good challenge that didn't crush him.   He also dropped 3 minutes from his last years time!

I'm really proud of how hard he tries. He gave it his all.  His transistion was much faster this year, as was his run (probably because he wasn't stopping to gather up trash! LOL).  It will be fun to watch where this guy's determination takes him in the future.  We will be cheering for him all the way.