This was a whirlwind of a weekend. Rinar decided to do a relay with Bart and Rich in Las Vegas, the RAGE triathlon, half ironman distance. Rich swam 1.2 miles, Bart biked 56 miles, and Rinar ran a half marathon. Rinar talked me into going down there with him. I was hesitant because we had just gone to North Carolina and I hated to be away from the kids anymore. However, it was a really quick trip and Jamie and Leah were willing to watch our kids. We left Friday around 10am and drove down with Bart and Monica. We then returned Saturday night. It wasn't so bad.
The drive down was fun and then we stayed at Rich and Johanna's house and were able to hang out Friday night. They are all so much fun, it was a pleasure to have this time with all of them.
The boys headed out to Lake Mead super early in the morning. For us girls, we went to breakfast at Sunrise Cafe and had a leisurely morning. We eventually got out to the race course. I brought Noelle and thought it would be great with my nice stroller and everything. However, the ground was exceptionally rocky. Gravel would have been a blessing. Therefore, the stroller was like pulling an anchor around everywhere. But we were able to find Rinar and Rich as they waited for Bart to return from his ride. It took almost three hours for him to finish the bike ride. We probably got there too early because we had to wait a while for him to come in.
Eventually he did and Bart had a really good ride. We were concerned because it was a bit windy. But he still kept a good speed for the duration of his leg.
Rinar took off on the course and it was brutal. It started to get pretty hot. There is absolutely no shade and portions of the course were extremely rocky or just gravel. Only a small portion of the run was on pavement. I am just glad I didn't have to do it because the absolute worse part was the 2000 foot elevation change. Holy cow, 2000 feet! Yuck. It was not easy. But I am proud of Rinar. He was able to break two hours on his run. Way to go, honey!
Here is the gang waiting for his glorious arrival. I ended up walking the last two miles of the course while they kept a sleeping Noelle with them. Bart also ran back to find Rinar. I think he ended up running over five miles. The man is a beast.
In the end, their relay team came out on top! We waited there for quite a while for the results to come in. They were able to get their plaques a little bit early so that we could leave. Then we all headed back to Rich and Johanna's house and they all cooled off in the pool. And then it was time to leave.
We hit the road about 3:45pm. After we got out of view of the Las Vegas valley, traffic came to a standstill. And then we would drive about 5 mph. It was horrible. The trip to St. George took twice as long as usual. Bart and Rinar were starving and Noelle was not happy. I ended up taking her out of her seat and holding her and letting her roll around on the floor. That saved us all from hearing loss.
We stopped in St. George to eat dinner at Frostop. Rinar's mom met us there as did Monica's parents. They were able to have a nice visit with their family and we did also. It was fun to see Linda and talk to her. And then it was time to hit the road. We didn't even leave until well after 9pm. It was going to be a long night. I made Bart play stupid car games to keep all of our minds active and make sure that he stayed awake. It worked and we limped to the finish line at 1:30 am. It was a long Saturday but I am grateful for the memories.
Good times.
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