Sometime around late Spring, my sister invited my mom and my sisters and I to join her in a triathlon. It was far away, so I knew I wouldn't be able to make it.
But, in the spirit of solidarity, I found one not too far away and invited a bunch of my friends to join in. I was so excited when six of them did!
Sprint triathlons are not all created equal. This was one fairly short: 300 meter swim, 10 mile bike ride, and 2.5 mile run.
This was only my second tri, and my first in an indoor pool. While it was definitely less daunting than an open swim, it still presented its own challenges.
The first being that I had to deal with those guys behind me in line. Judging everyone's swim technique and questioning their abilities.
And I knew they were all wondering what I was doing ahead of them, thinking I had totally inflated my swim time.
And you might not be able to see it unless you know me really well, but this photo shows just how nervous I was, wondering right along with them what I was doing ahead of them.
Second challenge--the last time I dove into a pool was probably about 15 years ago. I majorly flubbed my dive. And I knew that all those guys were back on land laughing and feeling annoyed that they would now have to deal with passing me.
The don't know how stubborn I am.
I took off. Right about this point, I realized that I had been at an all out sprint and wasn't going to be able to keep that up for another 250 meters.
And then I hit the third challenge--apparently, I am not skilled enough to flip turn under lap lanes. I came up directly under the line and hit my head.
My ego and confidence were seriously struggling at this point.
But, I was still determined to not get passed in the pool
And I didn't.
See how much space there was between us?!
Of course, he caught me just outside the door because I was sort of disoriented and not running straight, I'm pretty sure. Still, it was fortunate, because he pointed out a giant pothole in the grass, preventing me from tripping in it.
And then he probably got out of transition a full minute ahead of me. Of course, he was clearly a serious triathlete, complete with the funky bike and helmet.
Me? Not so much experience. If you could see better in this photo, you'd see a look of total frustration on my face as I S-T-R-U-G-G-L-E-D to put my bike gloves on, all the while thinking to myself, "Why am I even bothering with these?! It's only 10 miles!"
But, I'm nothing if I'm not stubborn. And I had planned on wearing the gloves, and just felt the need to stick with The Plan.
The bike is definitely my weak leg. I got off to a slow start, misunderstood where the guy was telling me to go and had to turn around, lost my water bottle about Mile 5, and actually stopped and got off to turn my bike around at the turn around point.
Yes. I have work to do. But, at least I have lots of room for progress!
But, I did manage to pass the girl ahead of me from the swim (I should mention that she was 14 and the daughter of one of my friends).
So, I was pretty stoked about being in first place for the women as I hustled back with my bike.
At this point, Blake cannot help but interject with, "Why did you get off your bike so early?!"
All I can say is, Transitions are stressful. I clearly need more practice than one triathlon every 5 years affords.
Finally, time for the run. I was feeling super slow. As I always do when just moments earlier I was cruising on my bike. It's like turning from 80 mph on the freeway to a 25 mph residential street. With really hammered quad muscles.
I was tired and my hair was in my face because I put my bike back on top of my hat and consequently forgot it. But, I was still stoked about my position. I had just signed up for this for fun and had kept my expectations low because I hadn't had a ton of time to train since I only started up my running again in March after having a broken foot all winter.
The run course was an out-and-back. Which meant that while I was still on the "Out", I realized my mistake. There had, in fact, been TWO girls in front of me in the swim.
Alas, I had only passed one. And this other girl was too far ahead of me in the run for me to even contemplate catching her. So, the super competitive side of me was kind of crushed at this point.
But then I reminded myself that I was just happy to be here and that second was still way better than I had intended.
I just had to include this so you can see my funky run. I'm pretty sure that sticking my foot way out like that is not very efficient. And may have A LOT to do with why all my injuries happen on my right side.
I was super confused when I came in and saw that clock. I was pretty sure that my tri had not taken me over 9 hours to complete.
And then I realized that it was just a clock telling the time of day. Because we all started at different times.
I am real smart when I be tired.
I can't remember my exact time, but my goal was to do it in under an hour and I did just that. Just by a minute, or so.
It's pretty awesome having such a devoted fan club. We lucked out on this one because they actually provided child care, so Blake didn't have to worry about chasing Trey and Lanaya.
And these are my pretty friends.
Plus a husband who joined in on the fun as well.
And I found out that racing with my friends is even mo' bettah than just the race on its own. It was so much fun to cheer for each other throughout and then be on our post-race high together. I love my friends!
The only thing that would have been better is if Blake had been in the race as well. But, stayed tuned, Friends. Watching this got him pretty jazzed and we will be triathloning together sometime in the hopefully-not-too-distant future!
I ended up placing second over all and in my age group, but they gave me first place in my age group because the girl who won was in the same group and I guess they wanted to spread the medal love around. I took 17th over all. And I'm pretty proud of myself, but before you go getting too impressed, I should mention that only 68 people entered the race. Total.
Still--I have a gold medal! And now, after typing this up, I can't wait to do another one!
