We had to wake up at 3am the day of the race to get to Zuma Beach early enough to be able to get a parking spot. There were 3000 people competing in this event, not to mention all the people who were coming to cheer them on, so we knew that parking would be a nightmare if we didn't get there early. We thought we'd be able to just grab Rory, pop him in the car, and that he'd sleep until right before the race started. Yeah, right! As soon as we put him in his car seat, he popped his eyes open and said, "Hey, we're awake during the dark time! I'm in the car in my jammies! Cool!", and then he was too excited to even think about closing his eyes. So much for catching a nap before the race!
We got one of the "coveted" parking spaces and hung out there for awhile while we waited for the sun to come up, and watched a sea of humanity walk by our car. There were A TON of people! I've never been to a triathlon before (or any other kind of race, for that matter!) so I had no idea what I was in for. Trying to manuever a little three old through the throngs of people was unbelievably hard!
When it was finally time for the race to get started, everyone had to get together in their "waves", which were broken down by age groups. Hoby was in Wave #7, the 35-40 year old men's group, and a gun went off every five minutes for another wave of racers to hit the water (so we had 35 minutes of gun shots - by the end, I had to pry poor Rory's hands off his ears - he was scared to death!).
Here we are just before Hoby went off to join his wave:
Here's Hoby with all his swim gear on:
When it was almost time for Hoby to go, I grabbed Rory and elbowed through about a million people so that I could see him. Amazingly, not only did I get to the front, but Hoby and I saw each other almost immediately! Here he is waving at us from the middle of his "wave" of guys:
And then they were off!
While we were waiting for Hoby to complete the first leg of the triathlon, Ro got his face painted at the Disney tent:
We had "parked" our stroller full of stuff behind some of the hospitality tents, and it turns out we were right next to the VIP area for celebrities. We were able to see Jennifer Lopez, John Cryer, Matthew McConaughney, Eliza Dushku, Eric Close, and some other famous people walk right by us - which was kind of a nice perk!
Eventually, Rory and I made it through the masses of people to the transition area, and we were able to catch Hoby coming in from the 18 mile bike ride and starting to head out on the four mile run:
Here we are catching up with Hoby at the very end of the race - hurray for Hoby!:
Hoby finished the race in two hours and four minutes, which was an awesome time, especially for someone who has never done a triathlon before! We're so proud of him!
And here's Ro after a long, action packed morning (only 10:30am, but he's been awake for seven and a half hours already - what a trooper!):
All in all, a very exciting day! Hoby's already talking about doing it AGAIN!
