Bengal Triathlon- 3 Generation

Kylee has done the Kids Triathlon many times.  She is a great swimmer, and she started cross country in the Fall so she was used to running.  We thought she would be able to handle the Bengal Triathlon.  The Bengal is a nice beginner triathlon because the swimming is done the day before, so you just have to ride and run on race day.  And the bike is pretty short, which is good since she hasn't spent much time on a bike.

Grandma Stokes has done this triathlon with me before and it is fun because it is right around our birthdays.  When we started talking about Kylee doing it, Grandma said she was in!  Jen had tossed around the idea of a triathlon as her next challenge but she hasn't swam a whole lot.  I decided to sign her up as a bday gift :) 

I had to pull Kylee out of school to do the swim because the only available times were during the lunch hour.  Kylee is a great swimmer but she doesn't usually swim 700 yards straight.  So we didn't know how she would do compared to my mom or I or Jen. Technically the rules state that anyone under 14 needs an adult to stay with them on the bike.  But depending on swim times, we would start at different times.  So we were not sure who would be close enough to Kylee to start with her. (We decided staying with her through the small streets with lots of turns was good enough, and then we could leave her on the long straight road.)

In the end, Kylee beat all of us on the swim.  She's awesome like that. She only beat me by 45 seconds.  Jen and Grandma were a few minutes behind us.  So in the end, I got to start the bike 45 seconds earlier than I would have.  Thanks Kylee!

This race is in April and you just never know what the weather will be like.  It was a beautiful morning!!

I thought there was a decent chance of either Jen or Kylee catching me on the run.  They are both faster than me most of the time.  That is a hard run...  It's a lot of hills.  I ran hard, but had to slow a bit when I felt like I might die.  They never caught me, though Jen wasn't far behind.  Kylee didn't run her fastest 5K (obviously, on those hills after biking) but she stayed really strong through it and did awesome!

 I ended up 4th in my age group (out of 31) which is just short of "placing" so that's frustrating, but this race only acknowledges the 1st place finisher so it doesn't really matter.  Grandma did get 1st in her age group though! (out of 5)  She often does.  Kylee took 3rd in her age group (out of 9), which is amazing because she was competing against all girls age 1-19.  The two girls that beat her were 16 and 18.  (Jen placed 7th in case you were wondering.)

Kylee was most excited about the hoodie we got with our packets.  She earned it!

It was fun and we want to do it again.  Renting a road bike for Kylee gets expensive though.  She's ALMOST to where she's the same size as me though, which is cool.