Friday, September 26, 2008

Kokopelli Triathlon 2008

This past Saturday, Sept. 20th, Barbs and I had the opportunity to compete in the Saint George Kokopelli Triathlon that is held every year in the fall. After picking up our wetsuits Friday morning, we hit the road. After hitting a few hairy rain storms on the highway we were concerned that we would have to battle a typhoon during the triathlon. Once we got closer to Saint George the skies cleared and the weather was impeccable. A balmy 85 degrees with a slight breeze, mmmmmmmm...nice. After signing in at registration and picking up our packets and numbers, we headed to the Red Cliff Inn. To our surprise, the Red Cliff Inn was located right across the street from the new In-N-Out Burger joint. Barbara was in heaven :) She couldn't wait to go there. I had to restrain here from immediately running across the street and grabbing a #2 cheeseburger combo. It just wouldn't set well during the triathlon. Latter on in the evening we met up with Weston & Becky and Kyler & Jen at the local Pizza Factory. We gobbled down as many carbs and we could handle for the traithlon. That evening we prep'd the bikes and hit the sacks early. The following day started way to early. We woke up at 5:20 a.m. and quickly loaded all of out gear and bikes on the car and headed to Sand Hollow Reservoir where the competition would take place. We set up our transition areas with our bikes, biking gear and running shoes and quickly squeezed into our wetsuits. The water was perfect! About 64 degrees and smooth as glass. The swim was as intense and we anticipated but the steep hill that we had to bike up during the bike portion of the race was brutal. It's about 3/4 mile long and has about a 90% grade. DANG!!! The run was as good as it could have gone, considering that you're running in the desert, on dirt and in 94 degree heat. Why do people willfully put their bodies through such pain and torture? BECAUSE WE LOVE IT!!! Whaaaawhooooo :) Barbs and I were very pleased with our overall standings and finishing statistics. I finished 19th in my division with an overall time of 1:34:96. Out of the 1200 competitors, I was able to finish the about the top 30%. For anyone who is up to the challenge, we would love to have you join us next year and we make this a yearly tradition.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

It was really fun to have you guys come down. Next time I won't be working and I and at least Sadie can come watch everyone. Congrats on your placing. Love ya

Erin_C said...

hey barbs and drew!
I'm glad barbs sent me the link to your blog.
congrats on the triathlon--chris is going to be so jealous.
you guys are amazing!! and we miss you!

Erich and Katie said...

I am impressed Barbara! I could NEVER in my lifetime do a triathlon!