Family Vs. Mommy Triathlon Challenge by Lesley Reilly

For the holidays in 2016, my husband got a new road bike. His first nice road bike. He loved it and I loved that we had an activity to do together. He loved to go fast and he could crush me on any hill but if we rode longer than 10 miles, I started to leave him in the dust. My oldest daughter was 12 at the time and she swam year round for Swim Atlanta. My younger daughter was 9 and she decided that she wanted to run a 10K by her 10th birthday. Since her birthday is in September, I thought training to run 6.2 miles in the summer was not a great idea. Neither she nor I like the heat. So, I found a 10k that was pretty flat, close to home, on Mother's Day weekend. We decided we would train for that together so she could train in cooler weather and it made the most awesome mother's day present for me. The day itself was awesome but all of those training miles together is really what I would treasure the most. I realized that my family would make a great triathlon relay team with my oldest swimming, my husband biking and my daughter running. So I challenged them to the "Family vs. Mommy" spring tri challenge. They were in. 
We signed up for the LaGrange Sprint Tri. They signed up as a relay team. They called themselves, "Team Mermer" which was a fairly stupid inside joke and I signed up for the sprint as an age-grouper. As you might imagine, my husband was talking trash. He assured the kids that he would give them a comfortable lead on the bike leg. The weather that day was rainy and cool but it was a pool swim and there was no lightning so the race was on. They had us line up for the swim with our estimated swim time so my oldest was in line about 20 people ahead of me. I knew she was faster but it was only a 300 yard swim so I figured there could not be that much difference between us. I don't remember what it was exactly but I think she gave team Mermer at least a two minute cushion. I am not a fast swimmer.  
It was an out and back bike course so of course my husband was on his way before I got out to my bike. I was determined to do my best to catch him but I was also a bit nervous on the slick roads. I never did catch him but I was not that far behind and when the results came in, he only beat me by 45 seconds. 
Now it was time to run and I knew my sweet younger daughter was out on the course. As I started to run, I suddenly felt like a horrible parent. I had never been to LaGrange before, I did not know the course, and suddenly I realized we were on a three mile loop around an unfamiliar city and my 9 year old was out there running by herself. This made me sprint a lot faster. When I got to each water stop or turn I would ask the volunteers if the little girl with the green jacket seemed to be doing okay. They all said she was doing great! Finally I could see her ahead of me and I breathed a sigh of relief. At that point I was torn between trying to catch up to her or staying quietly behind. I knew I did not want to run past my little girl. I knew if I finished just a bit behind her I had "Team Mermer" beat. So, I stayed far enough back so she could have the feeling of bringing home the race for her team. Since I started later and made up time on the run, I knew I should have the win! I am not always that competitive but my husband was so convinced they would win, I was determined to prove him wrong. The best part was they had the win too as the first place relay team!  I won my age group so we all went home with some bling and a lot of smiles! 
I was hoping it would become an annual event but there really was no interest in a rematch from "Team Mermer." My oldest stopped swimming year round the following year and my daughter completed the 10K and determined that running was not her thing. Now, the younger daughter is a competitive swimmer and my oldest daughter is not interested in athletics but I am so grateful for every mile I shared with my kids while they were younger and willing! 

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