Danskin Triathlon

6 Jun 2010--Drove up to Austin both Saturday and Sunday with Donna and Hallie for the Danskin Triathlon. Although the race wasn't until Sunday morning, we had to go up on Saturday for Donna to set up her gear in her "spot" so it would be in place when the race started on Sunday. We met Donna's friends from work, from left to right in the 3rd pic, Nina and Kim, who were also setting up their gear. The race consisted of a 1/2 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and then a 3.2 mile run.



There was a really good crowd of spectators at the park and about 1250 participants. The racers were broken into groups based on age, ability, cancer survivorship, or a mixed group. Donna, Kim and Nina decided to go in the mixed because it was the only group they could be guaranteed of starting off all together. In the 3rd pic, that is Kim in the flowered bathing suit, Donna to her left with the black with a white stripe suit on, and Nina is directly behind Donna with the big smile and the blue, white and black suit on. Each group had a different colored bathing cap on to identify them.



The race announcer talks with each group as they approach the starting line!



Getting in the water. We could see Donna and Kim as soon as they passed the yellow floaty, but I lost Nina right out of the shoot. Donna and Kim start with the breast stroke, and I think Kim did that all or at least most of the swim, while Donna said she mostly did the side stroke. Nina did the free style, so she could be any one of this group, I just can't pick her out.



The water is pretty crowded to begin with, and there will probably be a few bruises from kicking each other (haha), but otherwise all went well. Here is Kim, the 1st to finish this leg, and then Donna, who at 1st appears to be quite tired, but recovers with a big smile before she is even out of the water. I never saw Nina get out of the water and I was standing no more than 5 feet away, so I don't know how that happened. Kim on the other hand, finished everything so fast that I never saw her again for the entire race. Sorry Kim!




So Kim's finishing swim time was 24:03, Nina finished in 28:48, and then Donna came in at 32:37. They then headed to the bike transition area. That is Donna sitting on the ground and Nina adjusting her helmet in the 1st pic, then walking to and starting the 2nd leg of the race. It is probably at least 9:15 am at this point so the day is starting to heat up. Donna and Nina did the rest of the race together.




Here they have finished the 12 mile, very hilly bike portion of the race. Although I didn't see her, Kim finished this portion in 53:38, Donna clocked in at 1:03:06, followed closely by Nina at 1:03:09.



Hallie was tired just watching all this activity!!! Had to sit down to rest!



Starting the run. It is really hot now...by the time it was all finished it had to be in the low to mid 90s!!! And although they tried to save their legs for the run, both Donna and especially Nina said they ended up using their legs much more in the swim than they had planned...so they are both hot and tired at this point.



Considering all they have already done and the heat index, I thought they looked pretty fresh making one of the turns near us, but both Donna and Nina said it was brutally hot out there.




As they enter one of the final turns, Donna sees Hallie and realizes how close she is to the finish. You can see how happy she is, just short of kicking up her heels!!!




Donna crosses the finish line, followed closely by Nina. They did the run in 44:31 for Donna, 44:57 for Nina, and Kim finished in 33:04.



This is Guy and his wife Angela who also met us there and watched the race.



And Donna and Nina proudly showing off their race medals. When all was said and done, counting their transition times, Kim was "the bomb", finishing the race in a total 1:56:44, followed by Donna at 2:34:42, followed by Nina at 2:35:09. In their swim groups Kim was 33rd out of 133 participants, while Donna was 95th and Nina was 97th. You go girls!!!!



For our racers, we figured out your transition times for you. Kim, you did an amazing transition time total of only 5:59, Donna 14:28, and Nina 18:55. Donna and Nina appear to need a little work in that area (haha).

Great job ladies!!!!