Triathlon

I did my first triathlon last weekend. It was so fun! But it was also so so so HOT outside! The heat index was over 100. The swim and the bike part were OK, but the run was miserable.

My stats:

500 M Swim Time: 14:56

13.5 mile Bike Time: 55:15

3 mile Run Time: 31:37

Derek and his dad came to cheer me on. I loved having them there. When I registered I put my swim finish time as 12 minutes, because that's what I do in the pool. But guess what - swimming in open water and swimming in a pool are two different things. So I ended up in the first heat of swimmers. You know, the fast heat, where the winners are. Oh my. But it actually worked out great because I hung to the back and wasn't crammed in the middle with everyone else like I would have been in the 2nd heat. I was VERY pleased with my swimming finish time. I started swimming in February to prepare for this, and I've never done lap swimming before, but I really enjoyed it and felt very confident in my swimming for the race. Midwest lakes aren't exactly the best out there. They're disgusting. This water was so murky that I couldn't see my fingertips, so when I'd reach forward and hit some one's leg, I couldn't see it. Ick. Some people have problems swimming in it because you are bound to swallow some, but I've swam in enough lakes that it didn't bother me at all. When I got home my sports bra had a layer of green algae in it.

I am somewhere off to the left in the mass of bodies.My friend Trinity loaned me her road bike and it was so awesome! I loved it! I know this is impossible but I swear the entire bike course was uphill. I felt good while doing it, but I was very happy to get off that bike.

I had been dreading the run and it was the worst part. It was so hot. There were 4 water stations and every time I grabbed two cups of water - one to toss towards my mouth with half dripping down my front and one to pour over my head. Super classy, I know. Half way through the run my co-worker Niki caught up with me so I started running with her and that was really good motivation for me not to stop.

My goal time was 1:45 but I would have been happy with anything under 2 hours. My offical time, once transitions were added in, was 1:45:51! Heading towards the finish line I saw the clock ticking towards 1:46 and had to push to make sure it didn't flip before I crossed over. I finished 45th out of 86 females and 12 of 21 for my age group. It was a well run race, a great experience and really fun.