So here's a funny story about Andrew. Over the summer I bought him some really cute back to school clothes and dressed him real sharp for his first day. Just minutes prior to us leaving for his school he comes walking out in these red shorts and under shirt. There's a reason that this is so funny to me. Those little red shorts are Andrew's go to outfit. He will wear them day and night. If he leaves the house in jeans because we dressed him that way, the minute we come home he gets those shorts right back on. It doesn't matter if we make him put on jeans 3 times a day, he will still change as soon as we turn our backs. It's quite comical. So I was a tad bit disappointed when he comes trotting out on school day in his favorite pair of gym shorts. But really, what does it matter? If these shorts make him happy so be it. One of my favorite parts of back to school is the reunion of siblings once they all get home. Despite the things they may say about each other they really do miss one another. I love to see the brotherly love. It melts my heart!
After the program, the two teachers called out their students individually and handed them a diploma, their graduation certificate from Kindergarten. It was sweet. Mrs. Miller had rolled their diploma around a regular size bag of M&M's candy. She really is awesome. I hope next year he lucks out just as well as he did this year with a fantastic teacher. You will be missed Mrs. Miller! And seriously, a first grader? How did he get to be so old already!? 
Well after weeks and weeks of hard training, I am pleased to say that I accomplished the goal I set for myself. I did it! I actually participated in a sprint triathlon. And I did well!! Actually, after all was said and done, I was pleasantly surprised with how well I actually did. It was hard though. I was so pumped up with adrenaline and so focused on what I was doing that most of the time I had no idea how good or bad I was doing. For example: during the course of my swim I realized right off the bat that swimming in open water is so much harder than the pool. I expected that, but not to it's degree. In the lake you can't see a darn thing. You have to frequently pause for a second and look up to find the markers and make sure you're staying on course. In my situation, I had to follow an oblong path and when I rounded the last marker to head back, I hugged it too tight and started swimming right back into the path of oncoming swimmers. That mistake probably cost me at least a minute or so and in my mind I felt like I was the last in the pack. It wasn't until I saw my final scores that I realized, I did awesome! I came in 13th out of the 42 women in my division and at the time I had no idea I did so well. 
So here's how the triathlon worked: Every participant that enters is placed into a Division by sex and age. My Division included all Females ages 30-34. In your registration packet you are given a colored swim cap designating what Division you are in (mine was gold); all the stickers and numbers you wear that has your identifying number; and a timing chip that you wear around your ankle. This chip records every thing you do. Which is really cool because it tells you how long each event takes you, how long you spend in transition, and you're overall time. Great invention! Before you can even enter the transition area you must have your number on your bike. Then they mark your leg with that same number. The picture below is not flattering of me, but it shows how on my left leg my participant number of 73 is written, then they write your age on the right leg as well. That was cool because it allows you to know the ages of people that pass you and/or you pass. I thought it was awesome that a 61 year old man flew by me on the bike. Good for him! There was only 3 minutes between the start of each Division and mine was the second to start. 
So the first event to conquer was the swim, and at the time I felt that it was the hardest part. But I really think the fact that I had so much adrenaline pumping through my body made me feel that way. It was like a natural caffeine high. I was buzzed. In fact I was so disoriented getting out of the water after the swim that I did a little tumble right there in front of everyone. I was fine, but I had sea legs and was going so much faster mentally then I could physically. I finally did get my bearings and made it quickly to my transition area where I dumped the wetsuit and got my biking gear on. The biking path was along Marine Drive. It left Blue Lake and went almost to the Portland airport before we circled back and followed the same path, only on the opposite side of the street.
