San Diego Triathlon Challenge‏

The SD Triathlon Challenge benefiting the Challenged Athletes Foundation was an awesome experience. The athletes are really inspiring and hanging out with all the good people involved makes for a great event. Of course it all happens in beautiful La Jolla with typical San Diego weather, awesome! My favorite part of the day actually wasn’t out on the bike. Although we had a nice route through the countryside in Rancho Santa Fe and then down the coast on Highway 1 back into La Jolla. And I did have a great ride including cruising with Floyd Landis group, seeing Tara Llanes on a hand cycle, and meeting an awesome guy named Brad. He was in his 20’s and a single leg amputee, wearing an Operation Rebound jersey, which told me he was injured during battle as part of the Armed Forces. While riding he explained to me that he had some experience competing with hand-cycles, including some wins at marathon events, but this particular ride was only his 4th time on a standard bike with his prosthetic. He was on a rental bike and doing 56 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing with essentially one leg and only 3 training rides EVER. These athletes are more determined than the rest of us, they have to be…

Back to my favorite part of the day - waiting in the transition area for Beth to finish the swim. Luckily she started in the last wave because that allowed me to watch the majority of athletes come in from the water and tag off with their partners, or head out on the bike on their own. Just like the brief intro I got to Brad's story, there were over a hundred other athletes, each with their own amazing stories, who I got to watch doing their thing. And they’re no different than the rest of us, telling similar stories about how the water temperature was, or how their bike didn’t shift right...

The one thing these athletes do need help with is the cost of medical care and $15,000 plus prosthetics. That’s where CAF comes in and you can check them out at http://www.caf.org/ If you want to get a better feel of what these athletes and this organization makes possible - http://www.challengedathletes.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=53&task=videodirectlink&id=20

Thanks for reading! Dana