When can we race again??

Greg and Marin Smith have been racing with The Kyle Pease Foundation this year and most recently they competed in a duathlon at John Tanner Park near Carrolton, GA. First off we cannot say enough about Chuck and Kristen for and all of Tri The Parks race series for allowing us the opportunity to compete.  Rest assured you will be seeing us at plenty more of those races next year.  Truly a well run series. Greg recently helped pen a blog posst to share the experiences of his family at their first duathlon (Thanks Christy, Lauren and Graham for sharing the day!!!)

-Brent
KPF BOD Member, Walking with KPeasey racer

Marin and I had a tremendous time in the John Tanner tri-the-parks duathalon  this past weekend racing as representatives of The Kyle Pease Foundation.   For the past couple of weeks she and I did several training rides and runs together and I had the opportunity to talk To her often about racing again on Kyle's team. Marin was quite excited once again to Go Fast!  Several times during our training rides leading up to the race she would be on the bike with me encouraging me "go faster daddy", usually while I was going quite slowly up a hill!  On race day I woke Marin up at 5:50am, earlier than she has ever willingly gotten up.  She perked right up and told me she was ready to race.   After arriving at the park, she was very excited to set up - having her grandparents there to shower her with attention.  She was very excited to see Brent and especially Kyle arrive to cheer her on.

Kyle and Marin were all smiles!!

A duathlon consists of a run, then bike and then run.  After we started out on the first run, all the other runners turned to encourage Marin and she was thoroughly enjoying herself.  She sang songs to help me along...."mr. Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please shine down on me". (we started off running with the sun in our eyes after the first quarter mile).  After the first transition saddling up into our bikes, we were off and fast.  Seems the trip to All3 Sports to tune up the ride was well worth the trip! 
We ended up passing quite a number of riders (blowing by some at 30+ mph) and all I could hear behind me was "WEEE.....WEEE!" like the little pig in that geico commercial. Marin was having a blast!   About 35 minutes into the ride, Marin decided to take a little nap since dad was cranking the peddles pretty well on his own (and as I said, she did wake up pretty early).  Finishing up the ride at 16mph pace for the entire ride was great and off we were for the final run.

Heading out for the final lap!

We managed to finish strong together encouraging one another and getting encouragement and energy from all the other racers around us.   Really cannot say enough about the people that put this race on and all of those out there as a volunteer or fellow competitor.  When we finished, Marin was tickled to get her Gold medal!

That evening, thoroughly tired after a great day, Marin unprompted said to me when I was putting her to bed that she was looking forward to our next race, this next time with Kyle!  I of course could not be happier.  Marin knows of course she is a little bit different from typical kids due to her walker and legs. However I am a true believer that modeling at an early age that she can participate in and achieve everything that typical kids/athletes/adults can is so important.  Plus it's incredibly fun for us all and a great way for dad and his little girl to bond together with Mom, sister Lauren, brother graham, family and friends cheering along the way.  The Thrill of Victory!

All of the winners!

We are looking forward to many more occasion and even more so when we can share the road with Kyle and the rest of They Kyle Pease Foundation!

-Greg Smith