The Bear Lake Brawl. An appropriate name for a day of triathlon racing.
Brock wanted to do a triathlon.
He began training early in the year by taking a swimming class at the university. He got to be a pretty good swimmer.
All summer long he cross-trained. He biked, he ran and he swam regularly preparing himself for the big day...the Bear Lake Brawl.
For those of us who are uninformed as to the nature of triathlons there are four types (that I am aware of).
The Iron Man
The Half
The Olympic
The Sprint
Brock chose to do the sprint. It is composed of a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike ride and a 5k run.
We got up at 3:30 in the morning in order to be dressed and to drive to Bear Lake on time.
That is why this picture shows it still being a little dark. It was early. Too early. But Brock was ready to go.
Brock stepped into the lake in preparation for his heat. The people in his heat were men 17 - 40.
Bear Lake water is cold. Even though Brock wore a wet suit, he struggled with finding a rhythm with swimming. He ended up doing the entire swim in a backstroke.
We watched carefully to see when Brock came out of the water. When we saw him, we were so excited. He had finished the swim, which was the part he was most concerned about.
There was a trail for the swimmers to run along to get to their bikes. Brock was prepared to jump on the bike as quickly as possible because he wore his biking shorts underneath his wet suit.
Brock started on his 12 mile bike ride with confidence.
Just coming back from the biking portion and getting ready for the running portion. Running is Brock's strongest sport so Boyd and I expected great things.
Boyd and I timed Brock on his run and began looking for him after about 20 minutes. He came in shortly thereafter.
Brock's time. He came in 19th overall and 3rd in his age category. Not bad for a first triathlon.
The awards ceremony. The first place man in Brock's age category ended up being in the top three overall so it bumped Brock up to 2nd place in his age category. He got a silver medal, finishing his race in 1 hour 24 minutes and 29.5 seconds.
Of course you can't leave Bear Lake without eating at LaBeau's. We had burgers, fries and raspberry shakes. The food was fantastic!! I heartily recommend it to anyone who is taking a trip to Bear Lake.
This was one of the most exciting races we have ever witnessed. Thanks Brock for providing us the opportunity. It was GREAT!!
