We'll be competing in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon on 6 December. It's a little longer than an Olympic triathlon but nowhere near as long as an Ironman: 1.8 kilometers (1.08 miles) of swimming, 55 kilometers (33 miles) of biking, and 12 kilometers (7.2 miles) of running. We've read that it's considered one of the best triathlons in the world -- "a race in Paradise." A number of professional athletes will be competing, including the gold medallist from last year's Olympics in Beijing.
Not being Olympic gold medallists ourselves, we're not crazy enough to try to do all three events individually. So, we're entering the race as a team with Rob, one of our work colleagues. It was all his idea, actually -- he's a big swimmer and was looking for a competition to keep him motivated. Rob will swim the first leg, Patrick will bike the second leg, and Jennifer will run the third leg.
We've been training since we came back from Mongolia. We have no illusions about our competitiveness, but as long as we can avoid embarrassing ourselves on race day, we'll be happy. Race day is the first day of a week-long vacation we'd already planned to take in Phuket, so training for the race has been a great way to keep ourselves focused on our next vacation.
Wish us luck!
