Triathlon is a Team sport?

Its kind of crazy how triathlon is an individual sport, yet so much of it comes down to the people we train with, the people who support us, and the people who put these races on for us. I have been thinking about this alot lately. Our closest friends and family let us go out on multiple hour excursions every weekend morning. Our Race director friends stay up all night setting up courses for us to race on.  Our crazy friends actually agree to do all these things with us! And yet, the one thing I notice that no matter what the team logo: We all support each other!

This past weekend was the Galveston 70.3 race and for any triathlete who lives in Houston its kind of a big deal. OutRival Racing alone had 50+ athletes racing. Then theres OUL, SBR, Sonic endurance, Cy-tri, Tri Tactics...I could go on forever. The coolest thing about it is even though we may be sporting our team logo, in reality we are all really friends! This is why triathlon has such a strong appeal. Its supportive of a huge community who all wants to do they best they can. By showing love for each other we show love for our sport.

The squad holding it down

One way I personally feel the love from the triathlon community is by swimming with Magnolia Masters. Even thought the majority of people on the squad are on a different team, we all still cheer for each other. Even though some of the other pros are my biggest competitors (Sarah, Matt, Todd, Cody), we all want to help each other get faster. We have really come together to work as a team these recent months.

The second reason I am in love with the triathlon community is the easy ability to be accepted by others.  As many of you know I got to go to the QT2 camp earlier this year and even though I was not one of "them", I was accepted. In fact I even made some great friends. Big Shout out to Kait Anelauskas who had her pro debut and finished 5th! Speaking of finishing 5th, did yall see Cody Beals blazing around the course. How about Corrie Kristick and Todd Teren? All of them making pro debuts and having amazing races. If you arent following them now, you should check them out :)

Friends at work! 

Some Pre race pump up at the relay tent

Finally, Being a coach for OutRival, I really feel with my team the most when its at events like this. I even actually got to run in an OutRival Relay team and represent my team to its fullest. OutRival has 22 coaches and without the help of every single one of them this weekend, there is no way we (and our athletes) could have survived. (THANKS yoU GUYS!) Its a really great feeling to be hard at work with your friends, but then also be able to celebrate by the end of the day all the accomplishments. Even if you are not on OutRival, I bet you are sitting here shaking you head saying the same exact thing. "Yea, my team is Awesome"! "We kicked butt this weekend". Or even, "I couldnt of ran that last loop without your cheers!" I bet if you look back to all those cheers, it didnt matter whos team you were on, we were out there cheering!

Me and my relay teammates. 3rd place relay!

Congrats to all the finishers and really give thanks and embrace for the ability to be healthy, race, and have such a great Team to do it with!

OutRival Racing TriClub Div 2 Champs!

And of course biggest Thanks to my biggest support for always dealing with my crazy schedule! *muah