Kade the IronKid

The Hy-Vee Triathlon will always be an important part of our lives.  It's where the romance between Jon and I started and it's become a family tradition for our extended families (Jon's brother has participated, as well as my mom, sister, and brother).  So, you can imagine our excitement when Kade expressed an interest in participating in the kids' tri.  He's a pretty athletic kid, so we weren't too concerned when we realized he'd only have three weeks to train (as compared to our usual six months!).  We discussed the dedication that would be required and started swimming some laps while on vacation.  He (and Jon and I) were definitely most worried about this leg of the tri, it was the one sport that he didn't already do on a regular basis.  Once Kade was able to swim the required distance, we all decided he could do it and we signed him up.  He took his training very seriously and was willing to get up early to head to the gym with Jon, take bike rides in the heat of the day with Alec and I, and also made sure he got in his workouts while at his mom's house.   We were all very proud of his dedication.

On the morning of the 14th, Jon and Kade woke up early and headed to Raccoon River about 7:00.  Although Kade was excited to begin the big race, he also got pretty nervous (especially after seeing some of the VERY fancy bikes that other kids would be riding).  Luckily, after completing the swim portion like a true super star, Kade's nerves seems to settle down.  He was even smiling as he came out of the water!  The bike portion was difficult - Kade actually had to bike the same (treacherous) hill that Jon and I had to the first couple of times we did the tri.  Considering his bike didn't even have gears to shift, we were very impressed that he was able to make it all the way up!  If you ask Kade, he'll tell you the bike took everything out of him and he was out of energy when it was time to run.  But, he pushed on and finished with a strong one mile run (and a little bit of walking!).  The best part of the whole thing was watching Kade run to the finish line - he dug deep and found a few last ounces of enthusiasm to cross that line with a smile.  He is officially an IronKid and we couldn't be prouder!