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Saturday, August 23, 2014

My First Triathlon!

Woohoo!  Today has been a super good day!  I completed my first sprint triathlon, and I feel great about it!

I know yall are probably tired of hearing about my training, and blah blah blah.  BUT, I'm going to keep talking about it, because this is my blog!  Lol!

This morning started at a super-dark-and-tired 5am.  I woke up, took a little time to gather my thoughts, ate some breakfast, grabbed my bag, and headed out the door to the triathlon site.  I had to be completely ready to go and down at the lake for the swim at 7.  And before that, I had to set up my transition area, get my timing chip, and get my body marked.  I also wanted to walk the transitions a few times to make sure I knew where I was going for each one.

So at 6:15, as the sun came up, I walked into the race area, took a deep breath and went to stake a claim on a transition spot.  I knew absolutely no one there, so I had a lot of time to stand around (looking uber nervous, I'm sure) and watch what other people were doing to make sure I was doing it right.  Lol.


By 7 am, all 750 participants... that's right, 750(!!!) were gathered down by the lake, ready for the start.  This allowed me about 45 more minutes of standing around, looking (and feeling) very nervous.  But, my super awesome husband and parents ambled their way down to the swim area to watch, so I got to spend the last little bit talking to them.

My wave took off around 8, so we headed into the water to wait for the horn to sound.  And then we were off to start the 1/4 mile swim.  I was definitely glad to have the swim out of the way first because it was by far my weakest event.

After the swim, we walked/ran up the hill to the parking lot to grab our bikes and gear and set off for the 12.3 mile ride.  This was by far the easiest event.  There were bikers everywhere, and you were constantly passing or getting passed, and so it went by pretty easily and quickly.


Then we came back in to drop off the bikes and head out for the 2.5 mile run. 


I did walk a bit on the run which I was a little disappointed with, but it started out with this huge hill, and my legs really needed a little break.  But after than, I ran most of the way with just a few short walking breaks at the water stations.

I ran up the last hill and over the finish line, heard my name announced over the speakers as I came in, got my participation medal, and rode the wave of adrenaline of having actually done it! 


My goal time was 1 hour and 35 minutes, and my official finish time was 1 hour 35 minutes and 34 seconds!  Woohoo!  Never in my life have I been excited about getting a participation award, but today, I reveled in it!


And a super special thank you goes out to my husband who gave up sleeping in on his day off to help me get there and to support and watch me and take pictures for me as I participated, and to my awesome parents who also braved the ridiculous heat in order to cheer me on!  Thank you guys!

And I can tell you now, this won't be the last time you hear me talking about triathlons.  I've caught the bug!

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