The triathlon that wasn't (again)

I have decided that I am officially done with the St. George Triathlon. It only brings bad luck. Remember last fall when I attempted to do this triathlon and it got cancelled because of the rain? Well, this year wasn't much better.

We had 8 of us recruited to participate this year, and about 15 others who came as pit crew members. We even had to reschedule the ward activity and move it to a different weekend since we were taking half the ward with us.

So, we drove down on Friday to St. George. At packet pickup, Roy decided to shave his head. They were paying people $5 if they would shave their heads so Roy jumped right up. I wouldn't let Matt do it because we had our engagement pictures scheduled for this week.

Then we all went to the Pasta Factory to carbo load for the big race. It was really yummy last year when we went so we decided to make a repeat visit and we were not disappointed.

We all stayed at the Hampton Inn in St. George. It was so much fun! We raced down the halls on the luggage carts, took a dip in the hot tub, watched part of the Jazz game, and jumped on the beds!

You can't go to a hotel and not jump on the bed...it's the best! We also watched Alison make her bug face. It was hilarious!

We got up bright and early the next morning and headed off to Sand Hollow. It was freezing! We stood around waiting FOREVOR in the windy coldness waiting for our heat to start the swim. After more waiting, they tell us that they were going to cancel the swim because of the wind. Are you kidding me? I could not believe it! I was so mad.

So we all get on our bikes and start riding. It was horrible! The wind was so bad and we were riding directly into it. It felt like I wasn't even moving. I think I was going about 5 miles an hour. (That=slow) About a mile into the bike ride, I see some people off to the side of the road with their bikes. I thought somebody had gotten a flat tire. But then I got closer and saw somebody lying on the road. I rode past and took a double take because it was Matt laying there!

The wind had blown him into the gravel and he took a nasty spill. I turned my bike around and went back to see what had happened. He had a big, gross hole in his knee and blood was everywhere. And his fingers were all shredded up. So I waited with him until a truck came to take him to the medical tent.

My mom made sure he was warm. :) Anyway, at the medical tent they determined that he needed stitches and so they paged Garrett over the intercom to come and take him to the hospital. (In the meantime, I was huffing and puffing up the ginormous hill on my bike. Matt told me he wanted me to finish the race, so I was trying my hardest not to hyperventilate while finishing the race for Matt.)

Garrett and Tyler whisked Matt away to the local instacare where they stitched him up. He got 4 stitches in his knee and one in his thumb. The rest of his fingers were torn up pretty good, so they taped those up. I will spare you the gory detailed pictures that Tyler was so kind enough to document. He even got the grossest video of the actual stitching process.

Here he is trying to be tough as they cleaned him up. The rest of the weekend, he couldn't even walk or do anything. Like feed himself. I had to cut up his meatloaf at lunch and feed him his In-N-Out Burger at dinner. (Yes, they do have an In-N-Out in St. George.)

A big thanks to Garrett and Tyler for helping him so much this weekend. You guys are the best!

And another shout out to our fabulous pit crew for coming to support us. And way to go to all the triathletes...Yay for Caron, Roy, Rachael, Katie, Almarie, Emma, Matt, and me! And my Dad! We all finished except for Matt of course. It was by far the most difficult course I have ever seen. The run was entirely on sand...it was awful.

But I will still continue to do triathlons...normally they are fun. I'm just never doing this St. George one ever again. Ever.

After we got Matt taken care of, we went to the crack in St. George. It was so fun to see everyone try to shimmy through it. I love the crack! Matt spent the weekend hopping around on one leg, but mostly sleeping. His hands look like the crypt keeper because they are all bandaged up. We had to reschedule our engagement photos because I decided I'd rather not have Mr. Frankenstein as my future groom in the wedding announcements.

But anyway, he is doing much better now. He really was lucky that it wasn't worse. He very easily could have broken a bone or severed a tendon or something more serious. I'm so thankful it was just some road rash and a few stitches. And I'm so thankful he is doing better and healing well.

And another interesting thing is that I have completed the entire St. George triathlon course. (It just took me 8 months since I did the swim in September at the last attempt and the bike/run this weekend.)