Triathlons can be fun too

Most people think of triathlons as impossible to accomplish tasks that crazy people invented to torture their bodies. 

They are, but they can be fun too. My two friends and I completed the Lake Tejas Triathlon relay this past weekend. I'm pretty sure we don't feel tortured at all. Throughout the day, we actually described this race as "laid back".

Because we signed up for a relay in a sprint triathlon, we all had an adequate amount of physical activity to complete. I swam about 400 meters, Nicole ran three miles and Katie H. biked 13 miles. All three legs were the perfect amount of physically challenging for each of us. Just enough to touch that competitive nerve but not so much that we had to sleep for three days afterwards.

If your exercise goal is a 5k run, why not make it a group goal and do the 5k run as part of a triathlon relay? It's a great way to get other people invested in their own wellness and yours, and you automatically have two fans cheering for you. 

This race was in it's first year, so it was less organized. Less intense. Everyone was having fun. I brought my dog, which I wouldn't have been able to do if I was doing the whole race myself. He had a blast playing with the little kids, swimming in the water and eating all sorts of things.

We made a day of it, but it could have easily been a nice weekend camping trip. Even though we really were in the middle of nowhere, I could have stayed at this lake forever. It was more of a swimming hole, with a sandy beach area.

And if you have ever completed a race of any sort, you know that random people cheering for you on the sidelines make a huge difference. We did that too. Cooper (the dog) enjoyed it just as much as we did.

If your looking for a short trip idea, I think this is a great one. It has nature, physical activity, competitiveness and a group of friends right there with you. And one happy dog, who is now bathed and brushed and much cleaner than he was in this picture.