On September 8th thanks to my husbands encouragement I completed my first triathlon. I didn't get a podium finish , nor did I finish anyway close to first but I did finish. Since it was a Sprint it was a 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. I had done some training before hand but probably not as much as I should have. I went swimming maybe once since there was really no time to go. I did a lot of biking and running to prepare since I could do that pushing a stroller and pulling a bike trailer. Before the race I had never ridden a bike for 13 miles the most I had biked was 7 miles. So I surprised that I was able to do 13 miles with out much trouble. Of course when I had biked for practice I had done it riding a cheap K-mart mountain bike pulling a trailer. In the race I rode Jonny's mountain bike, but it weighs less and he had put street tires on it , so I think that made a difference. I wasn't too far behind all the riders on their fancy street bikes.
Our day started very early . I didn't sleep well I kept getting up looking at the clock convinced that the alarm we set would not go off. It was about an hour drive to Yuba Reseviour from Genola where we were staying. When we got there it was really cold and thought of getting into the water was sickening , my wet suit was short sleeved so that made me nervous. But the water was warm even with the outside temperture being cool. When the race was about to the start I felt like a lemming getting into the water with a bunch of other's in bright green swim caps and black wet suits. I was nervous to start the swim since the course seemed much longer than 1/2 a mile. I was convinced that I would never make it out of the water alive. I even told Jonny to tell the girls that I loved them . But when it was the womens turn to start I surpirsed myself with how well I did. In the beginning when my heat started I got kicked sevral times and kicked many people my self. Then I started to get a nice to steady speed when every one spread out and felt that I was gliding in the water. When I finally looked up to see how well I was doing , I found that I was had gone too far left so I had to swim back to all the rest of the racers, that annoyed me because that probably added a couple of minutes to my time. When I got out of the water and made it to out transition area I was pleasantly surprised to see that I beat Jonny out of the water , even though the men started before the women. I actually exited the water with a whole pack of swimmers many of them men. Sadly though I saw that there were not too many still left in the water.
The bike ride was just really fun. It was a little discouraging to see all the people on there street bikes pass me but I still felt like I kept a pretty good pace. Every time someone passed they would all call out " good job". So that aspect is fun since it really is an individual sport every one is cheering everyone on. I did feel guilty about my lack of sportsmanship when , after I had turned around on the bike course and I passed Jonny going to opposite direction I taunted him, but when he finally caught up to me and passed me , he told me I was doing a really great job as he speed pass me on his fancy road bike. I guess men are nicer than women. We actually did finish the bike ride at about the same time. Getting off the bike my legs felt like jelly and I could hardly walk it took a few minutes for that sensation to wear off. Jonny had to make a pit stop at the bathroom so I passed him up. He eventually caught up to me and we ran together for awhile. Until I decided he was going too slow and sped ahead. I did walk for a little bit just because I was so exhausted by that time. The finish line was a welcome sight. It was deceiving though because it looked closer than it really was. I have to thank to girl I was running next to for keeping me going. We stayed neck and neck , we knew we were in the same age group so we wanted to pass each other. I did end beating her . It is fun running across the finish line because there is an announcer reading you name and information. Then you are greeted by people who want to give you a medal,
In the end I felt really proud of myself. I didn't break any records or get a great time. But I accomplished something and that made me feel good. I think I will look forward to more triathlons in the future.
