IronKids San Diego and a few FAILS

Yep.

Big fat FAIL in more ways than one.

For starters... I totally spaced on bringing Evan any underwear. Ooops. I brought some for Tyler though. And diapers for Colin. But then I forgot to take said (extra) diapers to the restaurant on Saturday night. 2 poops later = FAIL

He left the restaurant commando.

Oh, and Evan's bike helmet. Forgot that too. FAIL. But at least I remembered the bike, right?

So we show up to the race expo. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon on Mission Bay. Mike's looking around at some of these kids and their parents, and they look like they mean business. He's all, "I hope Evan doesn't have the crappiest bike here tomorrow."

"What do you mean by that, honey? You think there will be bikes here that top the snazzy Schwinn Spitfire 3.0?"  (Retails for $89.99 at Toys R Us)

Um, yeah. Let's just say we saw quite a few of these on Sunday: 

Trek Kid's FX... Retails for $409.99

Anyway, we get the race number, the free goodies and a quick shot by the finish line: 

Sunday morning rolls around. We finally get to the race area and Evan watches a few of the Seniors race so he can understand the triathlon process a bit better. He's a ball of nerves. I go to take a picture of him with our "nice" camera with the big 'ole fancy zoom lens and then the camera displays..

No CF card.

FAIL

DAMNIT!

I left that at home too.

Ok, at least I have the video camera and my iPhone. Phew. The video camera actually takes pretty decent pictures.

I love you, man. You're gonna do great!

Mike heads to the bike transition area to set Evan up and get his race number all pinned on... except there are no safety pins ANYWHERE. Yeah, see, most of the kids have race number belts. That's not how we roll. We have the Schwinn Spitfire, safety pins (or lack thereof) and these sophisticated, top of the line running shoes.

Skechers... Retail for $50

Who really needs a $148 pair of Newtons anyway? 

(Yes, I saw a pair on one of the older athletes...)

Mike and Evan get everything set up and head over to the swim start. Evan was SO nervous. He's kind of an anxious little guy. Lots of questions about the start... Still manages a smile for me though.

A few minutes later, we're off to the races....

How cute is this?

I then proceed to take the WORST video EVER.

That's because I've used the video camera about 4 times. Another FAIL. I thought I was filming the swim, but it turns out I just kept panning in and out (too fast) and pressing the button that takes pictures in "camera" mode. I didn't figure out how to operate the camera properly until the biking portion of the race. With that said, here is the video. Note: I was able to edit out the parts where I actually filmed the ground whilst running around screaming and cheering. It really had a Blair Witch vibe (minus the horror) to it, but I thought it took away from the event.

Also, is there no other cheer in the world other than, "Come on, Evan!"? Sorry about that. 

While we thought Evan finished 3rd in the 7-year old division (which he would have...), he was actually placed in the 8-year old division because your "tri" age is the age which you are on December 31st. I just found this out after looking at the IronKids webpage and the results, which were posted today.

Stiff competition.... He finished the 50-yard swim, 2 mile bike and 500 yard run in 18:42... 20th place. Looks like if we're gonna do this, we gotta get a better bike/shoes and not go crazy on the swim. It's hard to teach kids the concept of "pacing yourself." We'll get 'em next year!!

And not to worry... Sweet boy told me last night, "It's ok, mom. I do these races for fun. Not to win them." 

Keep having fun and working hard, Evan! Great job!!

Also, special thanks to our friends Bryan, Annie, Madison and baby Parker who came to cheer Evan on!! Bryan, I'm sorry that you got stuck babysitting my boys while I ran around the course like a crazy lady. Thank you!!