My sister, Jennifer, and I have done a few triathlons together, and for most of them my mother and father have come to cheer us on. It was pretty obvious to us that my father was itching to participate in a race every time he watched us swim, bike, or run by. Unfortunately for my dad, he did some damage to his right knee in his early years, and now he has no cartilage in it. Whenever he tries to run his knee swells up to the size of a bowling ball and causes him a lot of trouble. This makes completing a whole triathlon out of his range. However, he swims pretty regularly. So for fathers day, we signed him up as part of our relay team for the Glade Spring triathlon up in the Beckley area of West Virginia. Dad did the 750 meter lake swim, Jennifer handled the 12 mile mountainous bike ride, and I did the 5k run.

Dad did great. He swam the 750 meters in 18 minutes and 54 seconds, which put him in 8th place out of the other 22 relay teams for the swimming leg. The bike course was downright mountainous with roller-coaster hills and curves that could shoot you right off the mountain side. It took Jennifer 1 hour and 37 seconds to complete.  This year the 5k course was what I’d call “west virginia flat”, which means rolling hills, but as flat as you are going to find in the mountain state. It took me 34 minutes and 10 seconds. It wasn’t my fastest 5k but it was still pretty good for me.

Overall we had a great time, and Dad said he enjoyed his father’s day gift. He is already talking about strategy and training for next year’s race.