Kids Triathlon!

Julian was in a kids triathlon today. We have been working with about 30 or so kids for the past 5 weeks. Every Saturday we get together and split the kids in groups. They rotate around to the three different tri stations. Swim, Bike and Run. I have been working in the water with the kids trying to get some to learn how to swim. There are only about 8 who do not know how to swim. So far almost all of those 8 are floating which is a big step. In bike training the kids do obstacle courses and a bit of distance training and in the run they do a lot of stretching and sprinting. Winston and Meike (intern at bike shop from Holland) help out with the bike, James Weekes (one of our triathlon faves) trains the kids on running and I am assisted by a girl in pre-med 1 named Sydney. She is a great swimmer and is really good with the kids. Kristina Stoney is our current peace corps guru and she and Meike got this whole thing together. Kristina floats from station to station and fits in where she is needed. The kids came up with a name for their club which is "The Cheetas - Triathletes of Tomorrow" They are getting t-shirts made up which the kids raised money for. So the triathlon today went well. There were about 25-30 kids there which is more than I can say for the adult race! The kids were split into heats depending on age and each heat had a different distance. For Julian's group they had to swim 50 meters, bike around a track (that is probably a bit over 1/4 mile) twice and run around it once. Julian did really well. He swam the whole way and did his two loops on the bike where he struggled a little bit because his bike is so small. His friend Collin was ahead of him on the bike but they ran together and near the end Julian told Collin they needed to sprint to the finish but Collin stayed back and Julian ran as hard as he could for the last 300 meters or so. He had a great day and was very proud of himself. This training is all leading up to the big triathlon in March. They will have a race there before the big one which will be on the road which will be closed down for the event.

Jaime and I also had a training triathlon today. Our race had between 12 and 15 people. About half women and half men. We swam 650 meters, biked 20k and ran 5k. Jaime forgot his shoes so he couldn't run. He had goggle problems so I passed him in the swim. I was either 2nd or 3rd out of the water. I had a good swim time. I have been working with Janine who is here from Holland. She is a triathlete extraorinaire. She comes to train and do the big event in march. She also volunteers her time every afternoon to train the club members on swimming. She gave me some pointers which helped me out a ton! She told me the same thing a lot of people have been telling me but just didn't explain it right and it didn't make sense how to correct it. She told me exactly what to do to correct it and right away I fixed it and could tell the difference. So I biked and ran and it was hot and hot and hot! That is our last training race of the season. The big race is in March and I am going to be doing the Olympic distance this year which is double the one I have done in the past. It will be a 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. So wish me luck! I'm going to need it. It will be very competitive because most of the women I know are doing that race.

We also participated in the first ever Tourism Week Bike Race. I did the intermediate which was 30 miles. Jaime did the expert which was 50 miles. It was hard and hilly and long. It took me a bit ovesr 2 hours to finish and I was second to last in my race. Oh well, someones gotta pull in the rear. Jaime was also second to last in his race. We had a group over from St. Maarten who were very good and took in the two top finishing spots. We also did a 14k run the weekend before which was good for me to keep up with training for a 1/2 marathon I am doing in May. My time was good and that was the longest I have ever run. So, we have been keeping very active. The club has a lot of events set up because a big group of them are going to St. Croix in May for the 1/2 ironman triathlon. Next weekend we have a 10k run, then we have the triathlon two weeks after that. The following week we have the cross channel swim which goes from Oualie Beach to St. Kitts. Then there is a 16k run and a 20k run before the end of March. I'm going to be tired when we get back to NH!

Julian is doing really well in school. His new teacher is doing a great job with his class and she really seems to like Julian. He has been behaving well in class which I am happy about and getting along with his classmates. He is going to be out of school for two weeks starting March 9th. They are giving them their spring break early because the Cricket World Cup is being hosted over in St. Kitts. I think it 's silly to take the kids out of school for that but what can you do. He will not start back until the last week in March. Then we will be coming home either at the end of March or the beginning of April.