Yesterday my wife completed her first olympic tri. I am unbelievably PROUD!!!! It was the Peachtree City, GA International Triathlon. This was her third overall tri with 2 previous sprints under her belt.

She had been training real hard over the last couple months and was in great shape. She didn't really follow a training plan, just kind of asked me what she should do from day to day. I didn't want to push her too much so I decided I'd let her figure things out and ask me for advice....which she did. She did a fabulous job except for a couple of mistakes that she learned from.

First, don't go to back-to-back Bon Jovi concerts, stay out until 2am, and do a long brick the next day. She ended up with a nasty cold, sinus infection and terrible cough. Really screwed up her training and ultimately affected her race times. She's still hacking up a lung from time to time even today.

Second, don't try and train the week before the race in San Fran with your sister, riding silly trail bikes everyday across the Golden Gate Bridge. Kills your legs and ruins the taper week.

Thirdly, don't get your bike a checkup two days before the race and not be able to ride it a couple of times. Her chain fell off 4 times.

Anyway, she still did awesome!!!! She was actually very disappointed with her times which I thought was cool because now she's talking about doing another one so she can improve. Oh ya, the addiction is taking hold! :)

Race day started at 5:00 am. Coffee and oatmeal was her breakfast.(I'm trying to get her to work on her morning nutrition.) Baby sitter arrived at 6:00. We drove to the race site and I helped her set up her stuff. She was really nervous and needed the support. Very chilly morning with temps about 45 degrees. Knuckledhead me forgot a jacket and I was shivering in my short sleeve t-shirt.

After getting body marked, she proceeded to the transition area to get her area ready, rack her bike and wetsuit on. Everything went remarkably smooth and she lined up for the swim start at 7:20 for a 7:30 start. Race started with the racers going off in two's every 5 seconds. I actually like this technique in starting rather than waves.

In the water and off she went. Looked strong until I lost sight of her in all the humanity. Out of the water in 00:35:00 minutes. Again looking strong.

Off to T1. No problems accept trying to put on a tight shirt over a wet body is tough she found out. Scrambling out of T1 and mounting the bike also went well with no problems encountered. My kids finally show up with the cronically late babysitter. They get to see Mom for the first time when she startes riding.

Bye, bye to the sitter and now off to the playground with the rugrats. Mom's pretty slow on the bike so I've got plenty of time to wear the the young ones out. There 8 and 11 and pretty self-sufficient so after about 30 mins I go to watch the really, really fast bikers coming in. Very impressive groups of riders!

Wife comes in after about 1:30:00. Again somewhat slow due to the chain problems. I've ridden the course before and some of the hills are pretty tough. That probably slowed her down too.

Off to T2. Again no problems. Kids are at the run exit cheering her on. Unbelievably (or cute, however you want to look at it) she stops and gives each one of them a kiss.....all right it was cute, I'll admit!

About an 1:12:00 she comes around the final corner to the two kids waiting to run in with her. She was pretty much all by herself so the children running across the finish was not distracting to anyone and very, very appreciated by her.

She's done now after 3:32:00. Tired but looking great, I head out with #2 daughter to a soccer game while my beauty eats some barbeque and bananas.

Medal in hand she proudly tells anyone who'll listen what a great time it was and how happy she felt for just finishing. I, again, am very PROUD and am looking forward to racing with her next year.

Bye, bye