So we started off with an overnight train ride. It was a little bit crazy, as our first leg of the train started at about 9pm and then we had to get off a little before midnight to switch trains (the second one departing from a different train station that required about a 45-minute bus ride to reach). The kids, needless to say, were pretty wiped out! We tried to keep them up as much as we could, since we knew that switching train stations was going to be tough. Once we got on the second train, the kids were able to spread out (in a manner of speaking) on their individual bunks (stacked 3 tiers high!) and sleep until we arrived at 8:30am in the city where the race was to be held. I was really impressed with how adaptable my kids have become with as much travel as we do (and with the crazy circumstances that usually come with international travel). We brought NO toys with us, so they used a paper cup I had with our snacks to make a "soccer ball". This kept them entertained (and every other person who was enraptured watching them play) for over an hour while we waited at the train station! The bunks were a real treat; the only disappointment, as you can see on Noah's face in the photo, is that he had to sleep on a lower bunk on the first train rather than an upper on (he drew the short straw, being the youngest of the 4!). 
Once we arrived in Wei Hai, where the tri was held, we spent the morning with me waiting in about 12 different lines to get all the stamps of approval in order to compete. Rather than having one line where you show all the different things required (proof of insurance, a physical form filled out by a doctor, a swimming certificate, etc.), you had to wait in "line" (more like "en masse") to get each one signed off. Kind of a pain, but really thankful that it was in a beautiful hotel foyer that was located on really pretty grounds, right there on the side of the mountain. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves, getting to explore nature and run wild for the hours I was getting signed in. We ended up getting a really good deal ($15 per night) on the rooms at that same hotel, so decided to stay there. The one downside was that it was a pretty good distance from the race site, so we all ended up walking to and from the site each day, which was a total of about 3 miles each way (so 6 miles round trip). And the last 1/2 mile was all uphill! The kids were total troopers. Don't think we heard a complaint even once. (Noah did ask Kevin for a ride on his shoulders once or twice.)
The night before the race, my friend Jennifer, who was also there to compete, and I decided that we were a little nervous about eating Chinese food as our pre-race meal. (Love Chinese food, but restaurant cleanliness standards can be a little questionable and you can count on a LOT of oil being used in every dish, which can lead to an upset stomach--not what you want pre-race, for sure!) So we found a Pizza Hut that was within taxi-distance, and all headed there for some pasta instead. On the way, Noah fell asleep in the car. We didn't notice until after the taxi had driven away that his shoe had fallen off when he was sleeping and was still in the taxi! We were able to track down the taxi driver's phone number (don't ask--kind of a long process, but really thankful that my husband has as good of Chinese as he does!) and call him; but he claimed the shoe was no where in his car (we think he just didn't want to drive back to where we were at the time). So bummer that we lost a shoe--and especially that I had brought NO extras along with us (we packed light for the train travel, with each of the kids carrying their own belongings in their backpacks). And because it was kind of late and we were trying to get back to the hotel to get a good nights' sleep before the race, we decided it was not good timing to go shoe shopping in a town we were unfamiliar with. So we improvised! I had a pair of slippers I'd gotten from a hotel that I'd brought along on the train with us. A friend had suggested to do so as "bathroom slippers", since the bathrooms on trains are so filthy, so that our other shoes didn't have to get tracked into the gross bathrooms. (Funny fact: they're actually just holes that lead out of the train! No other system in place to collect the refuse. So they lock the doors to the bathrooms when the train is at a stop, because they don't want a back-up of excrement on the train station rails. Yuck!) Well, I had the slippers, but hadn't even used them on the train. So I instead cut them down to fit Noah's foot size, then used some Duct tape that Jennifer had brought for her bike to tape the top part tighter to fit and to reinforce the rest of the flimsy cardboard sole. Noah trekked between 6 and 7 miles on this "shoe" for the next 3 days! He didn't say a word about it, although everyone else did, as they thought he'd gotten it from a hospital or something. 
Before the race, we got to face being some of the only foreigners competing in the triathlon; so there were lots of interviews and photographers around! I got to practice my Chinese in a formal setting, but most of the time the reporters just asked me to use English (guessing they weren't that impressed with my speaking ability in their native tongue!). One of the benefits to being a foreigner was getting some special privileges. Somehow, our Chinese friend who is the captain of the Tianjin Tri team got VIP passes for the whole family, so the kids could go in all the restricted areas that only the competitors and media were supposed to be going. The media loved it, especially since most of their ID cards said that they were Coaches or Trainers! Jennifer and I had lots of awkward photo ops while wearing our tri suits--one-piece spandex outfits that are incredibly practical for racing in, but not what I'm used to just wearing as casual wear around town! The only one we completely denied was with a group of our age men who wanted us to help them hold up a sign in the picture. I happened to ask what the characters on the sign were for, as I couldn't tell from the graphics on the banner, and found out that it was a beer advertisement. We quickly declined their request, and were thankful that we wouldn't have to worry about seeing our pictures in spandex holding up a beer advertisement on any of the local billboards! 
The race itself the next morning was awesome. It was pretty cool and rainy a bit, so some of the competitors were a little bit worried about biking on slick roads. But once we got started, it was a blast. We swam 750 m in the bay. The course was clearly marked and I didn't fear shark attacks like I thought I might! There were boats going alongside us and while it was crowded, it wasn't so much so that I was being knocked around in the water like i hear is pretty common. I came out of the water about where I hoped to--in the middle of the pack. I'm not sure how many women total there were, but probably around 40 or 50 competing in this event. After the swim, we ran down the beach and over a boardwalk for about a quarter of a mile till we reached our bikes at the transition zone. Then came the hard part; biking 20 km (which is about 12.4 miles), all on the mountain! It was truly the most physically challenging thing I've done in my life. I'd borrowed a road bike for most of the summer to train here in Tianjin, but it's just flat all over our city! There was not outdoor training I could have done to prepare me for the mountainous course that this part of the race included. One of the hills was literally 2km to get to the top! At one point, many of those in my pack got off and walked, and were going at the same speed as those who were still on their bikes! So I survived the biking, but it definitely kicked my rear. By the time the biking was over, I was ready to try to make up some ground on the run. We had a 5k run to conclude the race, mostly also on hills. This part, however, I had prepared for! We have a park nearby called Trash Mountain that has a path that winds up the hill in the middle of the park. I'd been running up this all summer multiple times on my hill work-out days, so the hills during the race were a piece of cake. I was able to catch the 2 women in my age bracket who had passed me on the biking portion. 
When I finished the race, I was met coming across the line by one of the officials who informed me that I'd finished 3rd. I was thrilled, as my hope was, firstly, to finish the race without drowning or flying off the mountain on my bike, and secondly, to place in the top 3 of my division. Unfortunately, the official made a mistake, and I hadn't placed as high as we thought at all! Talk about deflating. It ended up that I'd finished 8th. My age group (ages 35-49) is the most competitive one, surprisingly. So I think the official thought I was in the younger one, in which case I would have been in 3rd. I was able to get over the disappointment pretty quickly, comforting myself with the fact that I knew I'd done my best and that I'd had an absolute blast in the whole process (training, competing, etc.). So it was a trip and a challenge well-worth all that it took to make it happen! Now my only thought is if I have the bandwidth in my life to train for the longer distance....
Since the race, it's been our normal routine. The kids have been participating in a fall soccer program on SAturday mornings and we're just teaching away as usual. We've recently had lots of new friends come into our world from many different countries--lots of Central Asian students who are here studying. So many new opportunities to do some more cultural adjusting as we try to learn more new ways to connect with these new friends! Never a dull moment :)
