Saturday, May 10, 2008

My first Triathlon







Yes I actually entered a triathlon (what was I thinking?!?!) and I finished it. I didn't set any records or anything, but I did better than I thought. I never stopped during the 11.1 mile bike ride and I never stopped jogging during the 2 mile run. (my jog was barely over a walk, but hey it's still jogging right?) The swim was definitely the hardest thing for me. The 300 meter swim was the first event and to put it nicely I looked like a drowning monkey. It is a lot harder to swim in open water than it is in a pool. Plus never sticking my head in the water made it a little more difficult to swim fast. I am just not a swimmer. I don't have good form and I hate getting water in my ears. At least I wasn't the last one from my heat out of the lake.

Never in my life did I ever think I would enter a triathlon. Two months ago some of my friends said that they had entered and they convinced me to sign up. I figured that if I signed up I would motivated to workout. I haven't really exercised in about 4 years and 2 months isn't really enough time to train for a triathlon. As you can see from the pictures I'm not in triathlon shape, but it did get me exercising again and I'm grateful for that.

I was so completely out of my comfort zone. I never thought I would be caught dead in spandex let alone wearing them for all the world to see. Well I am glad I did it and I am glad it is over. For the last 2 months I felt like I had a test coming up that I hadn't studied enough for.

I'm so grateful for my family, Mark and the girls got up early to go with me. I loved to see them cheering me on. It really made a difference knowing they were there. I know it wasn't easy for them standing around waiting for me to finish, but I really appreciate their support. I'm also really grateful for my friends, Mandi, Erika and Megan they helped calm my pre-race jitters and I never would have done it if they hadn't done it with me.