Foothills Feat Triathlon

There was a brief time when I considered working for a newspaper. After all, I graduated from the acclaimed William Allen White School of Journalism, and mostly paid attention in my reporting classes. Mostly.

You can probably guess why this career path did not align with my vocational strengths. That's right...newspapers have deadlines.

I'm finally getting around to writing about the Foothills Feat Triathlon. But a full week after the event, my reporting wouldn't exactly be considered timely. I apologize for that. But it was a fun race, and deserves coverage, even if it's tardy.

My friend Trish Byerley (owner of Mojo Fitness) was the race director. I volunteered to help with the swim. My fellow Foothills Masters Swim Team coach Stephanie was in charge of this segment of the race, and she did an excellent job of managing the chaos of hundreds of athletes -- many of whom were young kids in their first-ever race.



The athletes gathered in the gym, and Stephanie gave them the pre-race briefing. After being organized into the appropriate groups, they were herded down the hall and lined up for their heats in the pool. If you've never volunteered to help with a race or a swim meet, you really should -- you can't help but love the energy and enthusiasm that floods the area around the starting line.

Foothills Masters superstar Rich Clark was one of the faster swimmers in the race, and he and his lane-mates were kind enough to pose for a photo before they cranked out their laps.



Rich did the race last year, but has made astounding improvement since then. Each leg of his race was significantly faster than last year. As his coach and occasional workout partner, I'd love to take some credit for his current blazing speed, but the truth is that its the result of discipline, enthusiasm, and hard work. He looked great steaming across the finish line.





It was a beautiful day for the race, and it went pretty smoothly. After the swimmers were all out of the pool, I spent a little time delivering water to some of the course marshals, then stood at a corner and directed runners for a while myself. Since I had reported for duty at 4:30am, I hadn't thought to put on sunscreen, so I didn't want to cook under the sun for too long. Fortunately, the last runner passed me shortly after I started to worry about UVs, so I was able to hang up my volunteer hat and call it a day. But it was fun, and I'm very proud of our swim team racers Rich (7th overall), Kevin (5th overall), and Mark (3rd overall), and all the swimmers' kids who did the race. And thanks to everyone who helped put on the race and make it such a success.

I'll see you at the next one! Have a great day!