We Tri for Encouragement

I am super honored to be a volunteer coach for the TriFest for MS triathlon training group.  This is a training series that triathletes can sign up for to train for the TriFest race series.  The series begins in mid-July and meets once per week in the weeks leading up to the race.  Midway through the sessions we conduct a mock-race for the participants.  The goal is to give everyone a chance to do a practice run and get more comfortable with triathlon and combining sports before race day.

Below are a couple photos captured during the mock-race last week.  After cheering on all the participants in the swim and getting everyone out onto the bike course I moved to the bike and run course to continue encouraging.  When I was on the run course I realized I was on the only incline for the course.  I had fun cheering the participants on in this section and even ran with a few.

In these photos, I was distracting Ashley with the funny story of how impossible it is to do math during a race.  It was good to get her laughing and then send her on her way towards the finish with a smile.

And probably one of my favorite photos from the night was this one of me and my friend Aly goofing off as we made our way onto the bike course to cheer and encourage.

Aly is one of the official coaches for the program and is so knowledgeable about racing.  I learn as much from her as I'm sure the participants in the program are learning.  I'm pretty lucky to call her a friend and I know the participants in the program feel pretty lucky to call her coach!

While the TriFest training series is closed for this year, you can still sign up for the races at www.researchms.org.  I'll be racing the TriFesta! Big thanks goes to Chuck Cates with Podium Images for these photos.