A Fantastic Finish for my Hero

After a knee injury, Mark wasn't able to participate in the Olympic distance triathlon that he wanted to do. This year is Season 3 for my triathlete, and his first race was the White Lake Sprint Triathlon at White Lake, NC. These crazy people get up before the butt-crack of dawn and drag their families with them. OK, I'm just kidding, but we do get up REALLY early. We were out of the house and on the road at 5am, and arrived at the race course just before 7am. Mark got everything set up and into his wet suit with just minutes to spare before his start time of 8:06. Unfortunately, we didn't get to discuss his time estimates, so I had to guess on my own how long the swim was going to take him. Also unfortunately, I overestimated by 5-10 minutes, and we didn't get to see him until halfway through his bike (they do two loops around the lake on the bike), then we saw him leave for his run. After a little walk past the finish line and a little snack, we relocated again to get a good spot to watch him finish. We were getting adjusted with a blanket on the ground, and when I turned around, there was Mark, already past the finish line! I was a little disappointed that I didn't even hear his name, but I just had to laugh! He actually beat last years' time by about 10-11 minutes, mostly by beating his swim time by 7 minutes! I am so incredibly proud of my husband, and despite what he thinks, I can't wait to wait around for 18 or so hours just to see him finish his Iron Man (in 8-10 years)!! I love you, Mark!!!

Wouldn't that have been a cool picture...if it was Mark?
Free entertainment!! And Xander learned a new word...splash!

Daddy's Yellow Cheering Section
Off to the 5K run
Me and the boys with our hero

PS--Thank you so so so so much to Aunt Mo for tagging along with us...I couldn't have survived it without you. Well, I could have, but it wouldn't have been as easy :)