This picture was taken at 6:18am, 2 hours after we got to the event…
And while we were the first ones to arrive, it wasn’t long before things started to fill up.
We walked over to the start area…
And shortly after Peter met with us, too!!!!
Kelli was ready to start…
And put her cap on to show which start group she was a part of.
Here’s was not first…
But 4th group is pretty close.
Find Kelli.
She wadded out into the water…
And as Dennis Albright had told her, stood on a rock instead of wasting energy treading water.
The horn blew and they were off!!!
Lots of training was about to put to the test.
About 25 minutes and 0.6 miles later she emerged form the water.
I was hoping to get a good shot of her…
But then these two ladies got in front of her.
Oh well, what can you do.
She took a minute to walk…
Before running up the hill…
And around the gate into to the staging area.
From there she dried off…
Put on her biking/running clothes…
Had a small powerbar snack (hence the funny face)…
Before grabbing her bike and heading up the hill.
She pushed through the gate…
And started the 17.5 mile bike
She looks a little too happy.
The bike route left the park….
And headed out onto the main road.
I did a lot of running around that day myself to get all these shots.
About an hour later I started looking for her to come back…
And there were plenty of women with a similar outfit…
So it took a few times…
Before I finally spotted her.
The 17.5 mile ride took her about 90 minutes.
She she flew back down to the transition area…
Where she walked her bike back down to her spot.
Find Kelli.
After dumping the bike, helmet, and bike shorts it was time to start the run.
A quick adjustment of the hair…
And a pass on the water stop.
30 minutes and 3.3 miles later she crossed the finish line!!!!!
Filled with emotion and happy to be done with the race!!!!
Triathlon…check.
Well, that’s all. Great job, Kelli!!!!!!!!!