Matt's First Triathlon (June 29)

Matt completed his first triathlon last Sunday!

It was called the OC Blazeman Triathlon, a small race hosted by the family of Jon Blais who died of Lou Gehrig's Disease, and the race is in honor of him. So there was no registration fee, just a donation to the ALS or MS foundation which was great for us. And it wasn't an official race with numbers and times. You could start anytime you wanted and you could run a sprint, olympic or ironman triathlon, or any combination of running, swimming, or biking that you want! So it was perfect for Matt since it was his first. He did the sprint race which was a 750m swim, 10 mile bike, and 3 mile run. And he did great! We didn't remember to keep his time but it was somewhere around 1 1/2hrs. Here is the link:
www.ocblazeman.com

Here is Matt listening to Blazeman's Family talk about their son and ALS, and then they spread his ashes over the finish line. I was thinking that was kind of gross but then they covered it with carpet so all the racers didn't have their ashes on their shoes. And then his dad had everyone
yell "Freedom" 3 times, so it was all a little sad to me.

When they were done everyone walked together down the beach to the water.

Everyone just started getting in when they were ready and Matt was one of the 1st 10 in the water I think.

I already couldn't see him now. He should have worn a bright colored swim cap!He finished the swim and then got ready for the bike. He wasn't hurrying and not many people were. So we're not really sure what a real triathlon is like during the transitions. Im sure it is much more structured and faster than this.Here he goes on his bike! "179" are Blazeman's numbers so everyone had them written on their body somewhere to remember him.
And here is the quick transition to running! I guess his biking socks are different than his running socks?Great Job Matty!
I can tell this will the beginning of a new sport for you and it will be a fun one!