Browsed by
Tag: 2018

2018 Splash 2 Dash youth triathlon race recap – guest post from my seven year-old – Morgan Hill, CA

2018 Splash 2 Dash youth triathlon race recap – guest post from my seven year-old – Morgan Hill, CA

Comments 0 Comment

In late April, my eldest raced her first triathlon in 2018, the Splash 2 Dash youth triathlon in Morgan Hill, just a little ways south of San Jose. She was fresh off a kids’ run at the Silicon Valley Food Truck 5k a few weekends prior, though she hadn’t done a triathlon since last summer’s Santa Clara kids’ triathlon in August.

tbt to the SC kids’ tri last summer. old school ankle chip FTW!

 

same swimsuit, different tri. isn’t it wild how fast kids grow up?!!

Honestly, after the SC triathlon, I wasn’t sure that she’d want to do another triathlon because she didn’t particularly care for the running part of the event. It’s cool; I’m not really into pressuring her to do this type of stuff. That said, when I asked if she wanted to do the MH triathlon, she enthusiastically wanted in. Even better, Saraubh’s son was also going to do to the MH tri, so the kids would be able to play and hang out before and after the event. That seemed to seal the deal for my daughter.

friends!

There were some big differences between the SC triathlon last summer and the MH triathlon in April. I’ll include my interview notes with my daughter here in a second — gotta keep those primary sources whenever possible, right — but for the parents in the area who are looking for information about the event, or how they compare to each other, anyway, I’ll elucidate on some details below.

Distance

The MH triathlon, like other youth tris I’ve read about online, offers staggered distances and start times for the kids. At the time, my daughter was six, the youngest age group, so accordingly, she had the shortest distances of the day and was the last group to compete. Her distances included one length of the pool, a 1 mile ride, and a ½ mile run.

On race day, there was a little bit of confusion though because it looked like the ride was longer, based on a discrepancy between email communications and the website, making it maybe closer to 1.5 miles. At any rate, the kids didn’t seem to complain. The transition areas were in a parking lot, very near the pool, and the ride was through the large aquatics center campus. The run for her age group was an out-and-back in a field on the campus. Everything was pretty close together and closed off to vehicular traffic, as much as I could tell.

For the six-and-unders and the seven year-old age groups, the race divided the boys and girls into separate heats, but for the older groups, boys and girls were co-mingled.

official. let’s do this! (standing in T1)

Field size

When my daughter did the SC triathlon last summer, the event seemed huge, with easily over 100, if not 200, child participants. Since that was our first foray into triathlons, it was pretty overwhelming, to be honest. Giving ourselves an hour to park, set up transition, get bib numbers, and figure out where we needed to be was barely enough time, and I felt like we were scrambling the entire time.

In comparison, the MH Splash 2 Dash was much more low-key. There were 50, maybe 70 participants total, and each age group only needed one heat to begin their race (save for the littlest ones who were segregated by sex). All the logistics of the morning — parking, setting up transition, getting bibs, yadda yadda yadda — were much easier to handle because everything was on such a smaller scale.  

the perks of a small-scale event: being able to effortlessly watch the participants go before you. the race cordoned off part of the pool deck during other AG heats, presumably for both safety and logistical reasons, but a nice side benefit was pumping up the kids for a good 20 minutes before their race began.

Post-tri party

Finally, one of the biggest differences between the SC triathlon last summer and the MH triathlon earlier this month was in its post-race offerings. I don’t recall there being much after the SC triathlon last year; basically, if you wanted to stick around for the awards ceremony, you could, but otherwise, once your child completed his/her race, you were free to go. If I recall correctly, there really wasn’t that much else or left to do.

In contrast, it almost seemed like the real party was just beginning to start after kids completed the Splash 2 Dash triathlon. The City of Morgan Hill hosted several community partner booths that had games and crafts set up for the kids, which helped make the morning that much more fun and memorable. Once kids finished their triathlon, they were free to walk over to the vendor booths to make their own handprint tiles, courtesy of Home Depot; to make some bookmarks, courtesy of a second-chance organization; to get their hair spray-painted crazy colors, courtesy of a local hair salon; to play a spin-the-wheel game at the local Second Harvest Food Bank table, and more. Games and crafts: this is the stuff six year-old girls’ dreams are made of, folks! If memory serves, I think the City of Morgan Hill also had a table set-up, advertising their summer programs and camps, and someone else — maybe the YMCA? — had set up a station giving kids and families fruit kabobs. My child spent fewer than ten minutes actually doing her race, but we easily dropped another hour afterward at the race venue because she was having so much fun doing all this other stuff.  

super cute and easy idea that I absolutely stole for a Girl Scout meeting a couple months later

Amenities

Both the SC and the MH triathlons gave participants similar amenities: a medal for participating and a t-shirt. I think the SC tri may have also given the kids a reusable grocery bag, too.

Registration Costs

If memory serves, perhaps because of when I registered her for the SC race last year, the SC tri was significantly more expensive than the MH triathlon. In addition, the SC triathlon mandated that all participants pay for a one-year membership to USAT, presumably to help guarantee insurance coverage for the day of the event. In contrast, the MH triathlon — perhaps because it was organized through the city of Morgan Hill and (presumably) wasn’t a sanctioned USAT event — didn’t require USAT membership/insurance, which ultimately affected the lower price tag. The SC tri had participants ankle-chipped for the races, whereas the MH didn’t have any chip-based timing to speak of, though participants still got official (gun-based) times.

Summative Commentary

So parents out there – if you’re looking for a fun and low-key triathlon for your child, I’d definitely recommend giving the Splash 2 Dash event in Morgan Hill a try. The atmosphere wasn’t cut-throat competitive; the kids all seemed to enjoy the awesome post-race party and craft tables; and it was extremely family-friendly. In retrospect, it would have been manageable to bring the two year-old and wrangle her while waiting around and then cheering for big sister.

aww.

Realistically speaking, too, your child will probably have much more favorable weather in early May than you will mid-August at the SC triathlon.

My daughter had a great time at the Morgan Hill triathlon and didn’t hesitate to say that she wanted to do it again… but you can glean that from her commentary below.

—-

You did your second triathlon ever, your first in 2018, a couple weeks ago. What do you remember most about your experience?

Not really anything. It was kinda the same as the last one but more fun. (Eds. note: honesty).

morning steam

Why did you want to do another triathlon?

Because I wanted to do one triathlon per year?

Did you train for this tri any differently than the one you did last year?

Yes, because I did some, a lot, of running at my school. Like we ran around the track three, two, or one times, and yeah. Yeah! That’s running!

What was your favorite part of this triathlon?

Seeing K. in the triathlon that I’m doing. Doing it with him was a part that I liked.

Tell me about your swim. How long was it? What type of stroke did you do? And why?

My swim? Oh, like only a few seconds because we only did one lap. I did … I think I did freestyle? I don’t know, I just picked it. I like every stroke of swimming, so that’s the stroke I picked.

her happy place

After you finished the swim, you had to get out of the pool, get dried off, and get up on your bike. How was that? Were you cold when you were riding your bike?

A little tricky cuz I had to go quick and usually I don’t go that quick. Usually I just, like, I take my time and hurry it up a little. That time, I had to hurry it up a lot. (I wasn’t cold) because it was a hot day. (Eds. note: I think it was when in the 50s).

Can you tell me about your bike ride?

That was a little tricky because there was a little girl who had a bike but a little more smaller than mine, and she was super quick! She saw me behind her, and she speeded up, and then I seemed to pass her after a little while. (Eds. note: A was the second girl out of the pool for her AG and caught the first girl later, presumably on the bike. As a parent, it’s so interesting to hear how A talks so casually about competition. It’s evident that she wants to work hard to be the best she can be, and she likes competing against others to be the fastest, but when she talks about it, she couches everything in having fun. It’s not a mutually exclusive enterprise for her).

the bike course looped through the parking lots area. older kids did multiple laps, so it all still remained fairly self-contained.

Once you finished your bike ride, you had to drop-off your bike and then start running. What was that like? How did your body feel?

Tired, wiggly. And sleepy! And a little sleepy!

What was your run like?

My run? That was really tiring! But once I kept running, I mean jogging, it didn’t feel so awful.

#seenonherrun. she’s one of those specks.

At the very end of your run, you approached the big finish line arch. What was it like to see the finish line? How did you feel when you crossed it?

I was like smiling because you were telling me, “you can do it!” or something like that. I was super happy that I ran a little more quick and I didn’t feel that tired. (I felt) super happy and tired (when I crossed the finish line).

Did you earn anything special for completing this triathlon?

A medal, some snacks, hair paint, a handprint on a piece of glass. Yeah, that’s all I earned. I don’t remember the rest.

channeling their inner Kriss Kross

How did you do at your race overall? How did you feel when you finished?  

I was tired! I was happy, a little. I was happy, but I didn’t really crack that much of a big smile.

Which triathlon did you like more, the one in Morgan Hill or the one in Santa Clara?

The one with K. Because it was with my friend! And, yeah. And they gave me a green medal, and I thought the green meant for luck. (Eds. note: proof positive that these things are always “funner with another”).

What type of advice would you offer to kiddos like you who may want to do their first triathlon?

I would say, well, you guys should really do this because it’s awesomely fun! I’ve done it before, and it’s like super fun and awesome that you should really try it out with your friends. You should tell your friends the day you’re doing it so they can do it. It’s awesome and fun! Get out there, and have fun in that triathlon. When you’re done, you feel so strong, like never before. (Eds. note: TRUER WORDS NEVER SPOKEN).

I remember we stayed at the aquatic center a long time after you finished because there were so many crafts and stuff to do. What was your favorite part about that?

I liked it when they did my hair spray colors. And along with that, I liked it when they told us that when you put up the piggie face, that the hair spray they put on your hair won’t get into your face. (Eds. note: It took me a while to figure out what the “piggie face” was).

*this* was the piggie face she was talking about

 

post-spray painted hair

Do you think your sister should do a tri once she gets a little bigger?

Yeah! Yeah, because then she can get a lot of strength and it’s ok if she gets tired ‘cuz after a few days later, she’ll feel not that tired. Or when she gets home, she will not be that tired.

Do you think your dad or I should do a tri sometime?

Yeah! Cuz I haven’t seen Dad do a triathlon before. And I haven’t seen you do a triathlon before. (Eds. note: gauntlet thrown, kid. Did it just get warm in here?).

Was there anything you didn’t you like about this triathlon?

Um… no! Cuz it was super fun and that was my second triathlon and I did a pretty good job on it. The second triathlon in my life. And my sister, I’m sure when my sister does a triathlon like that one, she will have a lot of fun! And I’ll tell her that I had a blast. (Eds. note: she did well compared to her peers. I think she was in the top 3 or 5 for 6 and unders and the first OA female for her AG. I told her, and she cared for about .2 seconds. Kids are great). 

What did you like the most about this triathlon?

Doing it with my friend!

Do you want to do another tri this year?

Yes, with my swim buddy, Z. (Eds. note: Z is a friend from her swim team who travels, with her family, all over the Bay Area to compete. Her older sister is a serious youth triathlete and has recently qualified for nationals). 

Do you have anything else that you’d like to add?

Maybe. (explaining what that question means). … (thinking) … No.

Alright!

While my own personal interest in pursuing a tri is very, very small — perhaps remote would be a more appropriate description — I do love watching her have fun and compete. Children can be such fantastic teachers.

SO PROUD!

Book Review: Deena Kastor’s _Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory_

Book Review: Deena Kastor’s _Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory_

Comments 1 comment

Everyone loves Deena Kastor; that’s pretty much a fact of life. She seems to have this superhuman quality about her that makes runners who have followed her career, or those lucky enough to know her in real life, all unanimously agree that she is just so great. By no means is this a knock to her, nor am I being insincere; I honestly feel like Deena’s just one of those rare athletes and people to whom everyone gravitates for one reason or another.

I can’t remember where I heard or read it, but the label of being “America’s distance sweetheart” about sums it up for me for Deena. This woman is the real deal, a hardcore and accomplished athlete who has kicked ass and taken names her entire running career, and yet she also seems so incredibly genuine and just — for lack of a better word — real. Plus, there was that one time when she waved to A during the SJ RNR race, when Deena was a pace group leader and ran by us, as we were course monitoring on the Alameda. The fact that she heard and acknowledged my ~4 year-old who yelled “HI DEENA!” pretty much sealed the deal that I’d forever be a Deena fangirl.

It’s probably not a surprise, then, when I first heard that Deena was releasing a memoir, I was just keen as hell to read it as soon as it came out. Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory is Deena’s recently-released book, written with Michelle Hamilton, that takes readers through her running life, beginning with her first foray with the sport as a young child and ultimately into her master’s running years, with all types of adventures and experiences along the way.

Before I read the book, which just came out in the past few months, I heard Lindsey Hein interview her for her podcast, back in late October/early November. Lindsey had her on again relatively recently, right when the book launched, and in the event that you’re pressed for time and can’t read the book anytime soon — but really, go make the time because it’s worth it — both of Lindsey’s interviews with her give a great idea of what Deena’s book is all about.

Of course, because it’s essentially her running life story, Let Your Mind Run gives readers a fairly linear understanding of how she progressed from being a kid who ran pretty fast in southern California to becoming one of the best American distance runners, ever. That can potentially make for fairly dry reading though, right? This type of writing can become akin to essentially reading someone’s resume. Fortunately for us, Deena punctuates all of her running exploits with the behind-the-scenes action and commentary that led her to that very moment. Her writing is accessible and honest and — something that I appreciate — owning of the hard work she put in day after day to get where she wanted to go. She doesn’t self-deprecate because she doesn’t need to. There isn’t any distracting hubris that readers have to sift through, either. She knew she was talented, evidenced by the many victories she pulled fairly effortlessly early on, but eventually, she realized that her talent was only going to get her so far; now, she’d actually have to begin working: and hard.  

I noticed that she had dedicated her book to Coach, whom I initially assumed was her husband, Andrew, with whom she has worked for years. I didn’t know anything about the actual coach, Coach Vigil, the man who took a huge bet on her and who arguably helped shape her into such a formidable powerhouse of running. I don’t want to ruin her story, but imagine you deciding today that you want to become one of the best runners in the world, though you don’t really have the marks or history to prove that you’re a shoe-in or capable. Regardless, you woman up and phone the expert on the subject who — for some reason that you may never know nor understand — decides to take you on.

What phenomenal trust from the get-go, right?

Coach Vigil helped get Deena into powerhouse shape by enabling her to take on everything from the super short distances to the marathon. Reading about the many ways her relationship with her coach shaped her running — not just the physical side of her running but perhaps even more importantly, the mental side of it — was such an excellent reminder of the importance that coaches have with their athletes. Similarly, Deena talks a lot about the role of her teammates in her training — exclusively guys, initially — and the ways in which working with others who were better, faster, stronger, fitter, whatever more than she helped to contribute to her growth as an athlete. In the sports psych, running lit, and general “business motivation” genres, there’s so much written about the power of team, and reading a world-class professional runner’s ruminations on the subject is yet another excellent reminder of how important it is to potentially catapulting one’s athleticism to the next level.

One of my biggest takeaways from Deena’s book is the almost palpable sense of gratitude that has seemingly permeated her running from day one. Sure, she absolutely has had bad workouts and subpar races — she’s one of us, after all! — but even when her running wasn’t going as she had envisioned it would, she still seemed to radiate a sense of gratefulness for her abilities to do what she’s doing in the first place and for all the people with whom she had surrounded herself. You might say that it’s revisionist history at its finest, that surely she wasn’t feeling all that grateful when she literally broke herself mid-marathon in Beijing, and I get it. However, I’d argue that reading one of the world’s best marathoners keep perspective on the subject — “I caught my tone. Well, no, wait a second, I’m not a victim here. This is a big deal, but maybe a big deal has a big lesson to teach. I shifted. Why? Why did this happen? It was the better question than ‘Why me?’” — is really powerful stuff.

So often, we runners get in our heads about everything. We take things so seriously, and I’d argue that we do so needlessly. Even the most recreational amongst us make our running so life-or-death serious that we track everything — splits, volume, rest intervals, calories consumed, calories burned, number of hours spent sleeping, and who knows what else minutiae — that you’d think we’re doing this stuff because our mortgage is on the line. So often we get so freaking trees-driven that it’s not even that we can’t see the forest; it’s like we’ve burned it down and left a conflagration in its place. In doing so, we tend to lose the joy that initially brought us to the sport, and suddenly our “I get to go train for a marathon” statements turn into “I have to go train for a marathon.”

You can argue that it’s semantics, but I’d counter that our word choice can have an outsized effect on our moods, feelings, sense of obligation and responsibility, everything related to this hobby that we’re doing for fun, emphasis needed. When we talk about our running in the same way that we talk about needing to clean the toilets or take out the trash, suffice it to say that the loving feeling has flown the coop.

I don’t recall a particular experience or dramatic breakdown that Deena had that made her mentality shift toward running. That said, it seems like her vast experiences in the sport, especially as she climbed the rungs to become one of the best runners in the world, gave her plenty of opportunities to pretty profoundly internalize running’s role in her life and her attitude toward it. Particularly when she was coming back from poor race performances (wherein her mortgage really was on the line) and/or possibly career-ending or season-shortening injuries, she was in a position to evaluate everything and make future choices accordingly. In this respect, it was especially interesting to read about her transition into pregnant running, postpartum running, and master’s running and to see how her goals and training changed as her life fundamentally changed, too. Again: hearing from a professional about this stuff is so refreshing.

There has been so much written recently in sports psych and the running lit worlds about mental toughness, grit, and resilience, and Deena’s book blends that genre with sports memoir in a way that’s memorable and accessible. “Define yourself” is something that I’ll always attribute to Deena — listen to Lindsey’s interviews and read the book for the backstory there — and it’s from Deena’s many poignant passages that I repeatedly found myself nodding along in agreement through her book.

I’ve read before that one of the hardest parts of writing a book, aside from the obvious, is the end. What are the last lessons, the last bit of sagacious wisdom, you as an author wish to confer on your throngs of adoring readers? Out of everything I could have quoted, I think her closing sentiments encapsulate what it means to let one’s mind run and how all of us can “think our way to victory,” in whatever environment we find ourselves. She writes:

“It became a game to hunt down the struggle, to get to the point where negativity bubbled and I had to be more resilient, more creative, more optimistic, and more grateful to emerge stronger from it. Every day I got out there so I could apply the mental habits to life more readily. Staying composed in an anxious pack let me keep my wits in L.A. traffic. I could handle a broken foot in the Olympics, and a broken yolk in the skillet. Patience in a long run gave me patience when Piper’s flute playing got a bit loud. Seeing all the lessons along the way added to my motivation. I had learned disappointment was rooted in the desire to improve and that under the grief, there was deep love. Resiliency opens doors, and compassion and gratitude can dissolve tension, and enrich any moment. What more can I understand? I ran on to see what discovery and life lesson would emerge from the miles ahead.” (278)

Many runners will claim that running, and in particular, long distance running, is as much a mental endeavor as it is physical. Deena Kastor’s Let Your Mind Run shows how that symbiotic relationship can play out and how those lessons we learn in the many miles we post — the lessons about ourselves, about our world, about our relationships, and just about everything else —  can permeate the rest of our lives in meaningful, long-lasting ways and that we really do become better for it and because of it.