The 2700 Mile Triathlon

The 2700 Mile Triathlon

At the beginning of the year we got caught up in the spirit of resolutions and decided we were going to do our first triathlon. After much thought, we decided we would do our triathlon in UT so we could visit family, have plenty of reliable babysitters, and choose from a variety of race choices that weren’t on Sunday. Eventually, we decided on a sprint triathlon in our old home, Logan, UT. It was a well thought out plan, at that moment. Then things changed as often happen in life. My mom got paid for a photo job with a free time share in Arizona the week of our triathlon. So we made a new plan that involved a lot of driving, but would hopefully be fun. Then we ended up making a quick trip to Utah and back just a week before because my grandfather wasn’t well. There was some worry about whether any of the plans we’d made would even be possible, but since you just never know what’s going to happen we moved forward with our plans knowing it was possible we might have to scrap them at the last minute. (And we would have without a second thought had he passed during that time.) During the course of the trip, we drove a little over 2700 miles through four states. (Note, this does not include the mileage driven on the previous UT trip. We joke that we’re just trying to get as much out of our car in case we decide to let VW buy it back.)

Leg 1

Our first leg of the trip was to New Mexico where we almost hit a coyote, perfected a recipe for dark chocolate raspberry cobbler (hopefully coming to the cooking blog soon), and camped in the rain. (This is where the kind stranger mentioned in this post built me a fire.) We’d initially planned to see some things in New Mexico, but we were short on time and there were tons of people because it was the fourth of July weekend, so we just plowed on with our driving and decided we’ll have to come back another time.

Grandkids and Grandparents We met my parents in Heber-Overgaard, AZ where we spent a lovely couple of days hanging at the pool and visiting National Parks like Canyon de Chelly and Petrified Forest National Park. The time spent there was fairly relaxing, but short lived. (This is where the kind couple mentioned in this post fished with our kids.)

Pre-Race Pic

After three days Noel and I said goodbye to the kids and my parents and drove all day till we got to my grandpa’s house in Bountiful, UT. The next day we worked our way up the Wasatch front saying hello to family and friends and ended the day with a dinner date in Logan, UT at second dam. (Oh, the nostalgia!) The next morning, was race day. We ran into a few more college friends and finally put our skills to the test. We didn’t really have any goals other than just finishing in a way we felt proud of, but we both ended up placing in our age groups. (We don’t think this would have happened at a tri in CO, people seem to be insanely fit here.) Then it was time to pack up again. We had lunch in Salt Lake with Vanessa Joy and Chris (Noel’s sister and her husband) and drove down to Moab where we met my parents and the kids.

Arches Sunset

When we’d looked at places to stay for that night we checked the Devil’s Garden Campground at Arches and they had exactly one spot the night we wanted it. We didn’t expect there to be any availability (it’s one of those competitive campgrounds that fills up 6 months in advance) so we’re pretty sure it was meant to be. The campsite was possibly my favorite campsite of all time. There was plenty of red rock for the kids to climb and gorgeous views. Everyone was pretty tired so we just made frozen pizza in the dutch oven, but watched the most amazing sunset from our campsite. In the morning, we packed up and hiked Delicate Arch. We haven’t hiked Delicate Arch since before we had kids, so it was about time. It was super windy so we didn’t stay long, but we were glad to finally introduce our children to such an iconic landscape. Then it was time for the final leg of our journey. We hugged my parents goodbye and drove the final 300+ miles home. It was another jam packed adventure, but it seems to be the way we do them best.

 

4 thoughts on “The 2700 Mile Triathlon

  1. Congratulations! That’s impressive, both to place in the triathlon, and to drive all that way. It sounds like it was a success.

  2. Congratulations on your tri finishes! I knew you guys were tough cookies (and might even surprise yourselves in Colorado). And one day I hope we make it to Canyon de Chelly, too.

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