The Kelleys of Wembley Court: Max's Triathalon

May 19, 2013

Max loves to bike and run with us in the afternoons. He also craves his lap swim class on Thursday nights. He has been asking for over a year now to do his own kind of race. Finally, we felt confident that he could do it with out us at his side. Jay registered him for the Kid's Triathlon that visited the area. Max trained for about a month and was super pumped with the day arrived. His age group was to complete a 100 yd swim, 3 mile bike race, and 1/2 mile sprint. Jay took him the night before and they walked the course so that he would be comfortable riding alone. He was so excited when he got up that morning. He had a constant grin on his face. When the time came for the race to start, he took off in the swim with quick strokes. They were not required to flip turn at the ends of the pool so they just crossed over a lane and headed back the other way. Max was rocking until he noticed the girl beside of him doing the backstroke. He got confused and thought he was suppose to change strokes. So for the remainder of the swim he backstroked. He still moved gracefully through the water, but it was at a slower pace than his freestyle. His Aunt Josie made a good point that it was probably good because he could breathe better doing the backstroke. This made his less out of breath when he came out of the pool. Then he ran to the first transition when he put on his shoes, helmet, number, and don't forget the shades. He grabbed his bike and headed for the road. Jay chased him on the sidewalk for as long as he could keep up. He said he did a good job on the bike and passed lots of competitors during this leg of the race. After the bike ride he headed into the transition area again to leave his bike and helmet for the last leg. Here he started the 1/2 mile sprint. Max came out of the transition at a good pace. It was priceless when he came down the last stretch. You could see his energy increase when he spotted the finish line. He turned on the turbo and flew by us all cheering him on. Of course with all that speed you could still see that perfect grin and his shades. Too cute. He had a blast competing and of course wants to do it again. He loves team sports like baseball and soccer, but I also thinks he seeks the thrill of pushing himself as an individual competitor. We are just proud of him for getting out there and trying out his skills. It was a huge accomplishment when we found out he placed 4th out of all the 7yr olds. Way to go Max! When he found out how well he did, he quickly wanted to know when the next race was scheduled. Hahaha. That's our Max!