usa triathlon national championships

Last weekend was very exciting for the Buck family. Joe has been training for the triathlon national championships since he qualified for the race earlier this summer. This means that he has done at least one training session a day - swim, bike, or run (excluding Sundays of course). This also means that he has been very busy and preoccupied with getting ready for this race. Any free time has been spent preparing. For that reason, I am glad that it is over and Hannah and I can have more of his time again. In the weeks leading up to the race, he also made the decision to build the bike he was going to ride. He has been riding the same bike for 12 years, and anybody that knows anything about racing knows that the better the bike, the better the athlete's time. So with the help of our friend Tim, they found a used, but awesome, frame and new components. It was ready to race the weekend before nationals.

So back to this past weekend. Mama Buck met us in Jesup and we headed to the great state of Alabama. We had a short visit with cousins (Joe's first cousin Joe and his wife Jenny and their two girls, Claire and Anna-Laura) outside of Birmingham (Hoover) and Friday, went on to Tuscaloosa (T-Town as my brother - a Bama alum - affectionately calls it) for the race.



Hannah with Claire and Anna-Laura

with Joe and Jenny


The videos below will take you through the race. That's me behind the camera, and I tend to get excited. You'll feel like you were there - oh boy!

Getting excited! Pre-race.



Yay for Daddy!

Daddy's Little Triathlete



Love Daddy.

SWIM - 1.5K

Start of the race. Joe's wave has the red caps. In this clip, Joe is in the front half not wearing a shirt. You can see him clearest at 15-20 seconds (passes behind the flag). I was really zoomed in, so it's hard to keep the camera steady.



Joe is in the middle of the picture with his arm up.



Swim in. This shows where the athletes come in and head to transition.

Joe coming in from the swim. Sorry about the bumpy ride, I was on the move!



Looking for his fans...



BIKE - 40K

A quick video of him headed off on the bike. I ran to get anything!

Another fast clip of Joe passing by on the bike. The second clip gives you a better idea of what's going on. The third and fourth is him passing by us. (I am an enthusiastic cheerleader.) This long straightaway was the easy part of the course. It got very hilly and tough. Joe saw a bad crash.



Love Clementine.





Waving to his fans.




Trying to keep her entertained during the bike.



Transition. Waiting for him to come in from the bike. I actually took off after this so I could film him starting the run.

RUN - 10K

Taking off on the run.



Excited for Daddy to come across the finish line!


Not Joe, but look at this dude. He's a machine.

Joe coming into the finish!

Post-race interview.

Joe finished the race in 02:17:40. He placed 30 out of 79 in his age group (35-39 is the toughest triathlon age group.) It was completely different watching a race with the fastest people in the country. To qualify for world championships he had to place in the top 25. Not that we would go to China next year anyway... But, it was a great race. He accomplished his goals and I am so proud of him.