Rockhill took "F.I.R.S.T." at the Sandy Beach Triathlon

Yesterday, my friend Tom Rockhill participated in the Sandy Beach Triathlon in Evan's honor. He has been dedicating his time to raise donations for the FIRST Foundation and has gotten very close to his goal of $1,000. On top of earning donations he was also able to raise awareness for Ichthyosis. Each athlete who competed received a flyer with Evan's picture and information about Harlequin Ichthyosis and the FIRST Foundation.

Tom did an amazing job and I am very impressed at how well he did competing. Evan and I were there to cheer him on and were able to "chat" for a few seconds as he jumped on his bike. This guy is a true triathlete. I was expecting him to take a break and rest a minute after his 1/2 mile swim but no, he jumped right on his bike and was on his way UP HILL.

wasting no time

Evan and I walked around while Tom was off on his 10 mile bike ride. It was quite warm for 6:30pm so I was spraying Evan non stop with water and placed an ice pack on his back while in his baby carrier, which helped cool me off too. We were approached the most by children who were curious about why his skin looked red. After I explained that he was born with a genetic skin disorder they had  confused looks on their faces. I went into more detail to explain and they asked questions. Interestingly enough not one child who approached us thought it was a sunburn. When one little girl asked, "If he has a brother or sister will they be born with it too?" caught me off guard. I briefly explained to her that when we were ready to have another baby, doctors would help us to be sure the baby would not have a skin disorder. 

Evan and I went back to the car to cool off (I was fortunate enough to park right by the finish line). We waited for Tom to come racing down the hill only to run back up it for his 3 miler. We got to cheer Tom on as he ran past us. Even Evan was clapping along.

no better way to start a run than up hill

We were not waiting long before we were cheering Rockhill on to the finish line. He finished at 1:33:12 and you better believe he had that ice cold Miller Lite waiting for him when he got there. I am very proud of Tom and am very touched that he wanted to compete for Evan. They officially got to meet for the very first time at the finish. Thanks Tom for all of your help to Evan and the FIRST Foundation. We really appreciate it.