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| Finishing with a Smile! #304 Paige Skorupski |
On Saturday August 6th my 8 year old daughter Paige did her first ever triathlon! She has been watching Daddy and really wanted to see what what this tri thing was all about. She has been training the last few months for this event and the day finally came!
Paige woke up excited and ready to go in the morning and was smiling all the way to the event. We got there early and set-up her bike and running shoes in the transition area and headed over to the pool for the start. I could tell she was starting to get nervous as all the older kids were swimming their legs...her normal big smile kept getting smaller has her wave kept getting closer to the pool. Finally it was her turn to swim....moment of truth.
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| Easy to spot in Polka Dots! |
Swimming was the event I was most nervous for her because it is the first leg of the event and she was with a lot of kids from swim clubs with more experience.
Ready, set go and she was off! She took off nice and smooth...concentrating on not swimming too hard, too soon...she hit the turn effortlessly and before you know it she was the third one out of the water!
Ready, set go and she was off! She took off nice and smooth...concentrating on not swimming too hard, too soon...she hit the turn effortlessly and before you know it she was the third one out of the water!
She ran by me and Wendy and slapped our hands and off to the bike transition she went. She did awesome on the bike ... the course was 2.5 miles with a big hill at the end. Many kids walked their bikes up the steep hill but Paige was determined to pedal all the way up so she could coast down to the bike finish...second in her wave group!
Paige quickly gulped down a cup of water and went into her run. Wendy, Brandon, both sets of grandparents and I ran to the finish line to make sure we didn't miss it.... The finish line was at the end of a curve so you really couldn't see the finishers until about 50 yards to the end....we waited to see her appear. But we didn't need to see anything when we heard the race announcer say "Look at this Finisher's Smile Everyone...Number 304!" We didn't need to know the number...we knew it was Paige running thru the finisher's chute with a huge smile...just like she started the day!
Paige quickly gulped down a cup of water and went into her run. Wendy, Brandon, both sets of grandparents and I ran to the finish line to make sure we didn't miss it.... The finish line was at the end of a curve so you really couldn't see the finishers until about 50 yards to the end....we waited to see her appear. But we didn't need to see anything when we heard the race announcer say "Look at this Finisher's Smile Everyone...Number 304!" We didn't need to know the number...we knew it was Paige running thru the finisher's chute with a huge smile...just like she started the day!
We are very proud of Paige and her fun loving, hard working attitude. She is never afraid to "tri" new things....skiing, water tubing, rip cording, soccer or triathlons! And today she really showed that she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to! We hope she continues to keep pushing herself and to love life.
Watching Paige today also made me realize the most important part of racing is a positive attitude ... no matter how hard the obstacles are to overcome... and last but not least ... Finish with a SMILE!
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| Coach Randy congratulating Paige! |
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Great job Paige!!
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