Riley's First Triathlon

It's been a week since Rye completed his first Tri, but I've been busy having awesome adventures with my favorite guy... So here is the rundown (a week late)

Rye has biked his entire life. He has always been a mountain biker, and about a year or so into our marriage he found the motivation to try road biking. Riley's cousin started his own bike company that you can check out Here at Fezarri. Riley and I invested in a road bike from them and he started riding around St George.

Shipping his bike out to Hawaii was an ordeal. Mostly because Riley didn't trust the moving company with his bike (and probably for good reason since nearly a grand worth of his tools went missing during the move). So for his birthday this year, his parents and I split the cost and shipped it out here.

Rye's been running for a few years now, and he's good. So he had 2 out of the 3 skills for a triathlon down. "How is he at swimming?" you are probably asking yourself. Not great.

Enlisting the help of some of the Marines who had been to a swim instructor school, He set out to try and acquire some swimming skills. This is still a work in progress. What we learned from this first Triathlon is that if he can improve his swim time, He would be sitting pretty nice in the standings. His swim has a bit to go though.

This was a sprint Tri, Meaning it was SHORT. 500 meter swim, 11-ish mile bike ride and a 5k run. The race was held on our base, which meant we didn't have to worry about getting up even earlier to make it over in time to do the staging.

Our alarms started setting off at 4AM on Mother's Day. by 4:15 I had Rye out of bed and we were quickly getting ready. We had everything ready to go the night before so it was mostly just loading up the car and getting a small something to eat. 4:30 we were in the car and making the full 2.5 mile trek across base from our house to the flight line. We arrived and couldn't believe how few cars were there already. Unloaded his bike and I grabbed the camel bak with all his transition gear and we headed over to the bike safety check area. His bike passed basic safety and we were allowed to enter to the bike Corral and pick a spot to set up.

After setting up the time was only about 5:15, The race didn't start until 6:30 so we had a bit of time to just wait. I'm sure Rye had the "first race butterfly's". Since this was something pretty new to him, He knows how to do the sports but he was worried about how the transition would go.

We found the bathrooms (port-potties) surprisingly there was TP (don't worry I bring my own on race day for when they are out.) Here is a lovely image for you, I'm in the port-potty trying to hover while simultaneously holding the camel bak and camera in one hand so that nothing touches the floor, I'm also trying to keep the bottom of my yoga pants off the floor as well. Riley informed me AFTER this ordeal that there is some sort of cable hook or something from above the door that could have held all my stuff... 20/20 vision in hindsight.

The sun was just BARELY coming up at this point (Ya, it was early.) It's one of my favorite parts about freaking early races, Getting to enjoy the sunrise from different parts of the island. I'm a sucker for a sunrise.

Nearing race time I ran into my friend Kelli, who's husband was also doing his first ever Triathlon. It's nice having someone to chill with while you wait for them to complete a race. I think this was the first time I've ever had someone to wait with. 

We headed over to the edge of the flight line where they had a ramp leading down to the bay. They had all the men staged and ready to go, I was smart and brought my extra big lens so I was able to track down Rye, maybe the first time ever I've been grateful for his back tattoo :)

 FOUND HIM!

 Does he look excited or what?! We were joking before the race that since this bay is a breeding ground for hammerhead sharks that they would pick off the weakest swimmer. Riley assured me that would be him.

 And they are OFF, He's in the middle of the picture right behind the guy in the white shirt with the green/blue cap.

 He's in the group out there, as the women are starting.

 Finally coming back in!

 Getting the salt water hosed off of him before he switches to bike.

 Drying off his feet and putting socks and biking shoes on.

 Ya, he knows I'll always be somewhere with my camera. Don't let that look fool you, right after I snapped this he gave a big cheesy grin for the camera, and I missed it.

 Rye really likes this picture.

 And He's ready to go!

 Running out past the timing mat. Are you loving the spandex.

 And there he goes, with a bit of a disadvantage after his slow swim time he has a lot of time to make up.

 He got back from his Bike portion A LOT faster than I was expecting!

 Check my man out!

 Switching from the bike to run! This transition went MUCH smoother for him, since he just needed to ditch the helmet and change his shoes.

 Gotta get going and make up some time!

 Ok quick story about this woman... She WAS on the outside corner and was yelling at all the runners to go around the cones, and EVERY runner was cutting that corner, and she was getting pissed... It took her a good 5 minutes to realized she should be on the inside corner directing traffic... Some people have their "dense" moments.

 Finding his stride!

 Here he comes to the finish!

 And......... DONE! He finished 98th overall... In the swim portion out of 230-250 people he finished 193rd (ouch, not great.) HOWEVER in the bike he placed 69th overall and 66th in the run, That means Had he done better in the swim he would be sitting much better in the standings.

I am SO proud of him! He did amazing for his first time. It was a learning experience

This woman was also Riding a Fezarri, Rye passed her while biking and had to track her down to get a picture afterward. She thought it was pretty amazing that his cousin owns the Fezarri company and was pretty excited to meet another person with the same brand of bike.

And there you have it, the complete rundown of Riley's first ever triathlon! I'm married to a pretty amazing guy!