I must say I'm full with happiness, for the first time in a long time.
Why? A couple of things. I'm officially now a triathlete. Work, I'm actually working. The fact that what I do helps peoples and makes a difference in peoples lives has filled me such a feeling of warmth and accomplishment. It was only yesterday, but found some new mommies to hang out with and able to let my children exert their energy as I rattle off my mouth.
*sigh*
More on happiness later. Lets get to the good stuff :)
The good stuff being that I completed my first triathlon this past Sunday! Even though Ive had a injury holding me back, I still had a blast:)
It was an overcast day. Didnt matter though, the smiles and excitement going through the transition area made it seem as though there was blue skies and a perfect 70 degrees.
Being up since 3:30 a.m to make it up to the race site, I was pretty awake and aware. Having a goal set in my mind, helped so much with my nerves. I knew exactly what I was going to do and how I should feel.
As always it started with the swim. I was a little nervous of the cold water. I STRONGLY DISLIKE cold water, theres nothing like the feeling of ice water on you face as you are trying to be a "speed demon" in the water. BUT the water was like POOL water! Apparently the day before was blistering hot and the waters were nice and heated up for us. So after first slipping on some rocks on my way into the water, I happily put my face down and swam out to our "deep water" start with a couple of friends.
Having people you know with you, made even that much better. I got to start with my local buddy Amanda and Cat, a friend we made 2 weeks earlier at the triathlon clinic.
So we hovered their, chatting and smiling. Waiting for the start.
Now I was not paying attention to the fact that I was in the front. Didnt think much about it till after we started. So we were off, I started off strong. Felt great, felt warm. I come up to look where I am, that slows me down and I get trampled! Someone even put their hand on my shoulder and pushed me down! I come up out of the water screaming "what the hell!?", the chick just looked at me then kept on swimming. After being pushed down and choking on water I was in a bit of shock. Attempted to throw up the nasty water, but put my head down and started swimming again. There were 2 times I kinda just wanted to stop to breathe, but I thought to myself "just keep moving forward", so I'd throw in some side stroke , then get going again. I could hear my husband cheering along the side of the water. Hearing him helped kicked my butt into gear and finished as strong as I could be. SWIM TIME: 11:51
Running up out of the water I felt confused on where to go, I was scared of running into people coming out of transition. Ended up just running into transition stripping down the wetsuit and mentally thinking on how I'm not going to eat it trying to get on my bike. T1: 1:23
I was set up right next to the bike exit , so it was smooth going out. When I first started pedaling my legs were a little tired. My hopes werent shot down, I was confident I cold spin out the "tiredness" and bust out some speed. Now the bike took a little more thinking. Having gotten my butt whooped on the bike the previous week because I was taking time off I was a little worried of pushing out to hard and not having enough energy to get back in. Stayed strong and consistant. My focus was to PASS EVERYONE and let NO ONE pass me. Only 1 chick passed me, she had an expensive bike, aero helmet and was RIPPED, so I let her slide through :) No one else though! Another goal I had was to cheer on everyone around me, but the energy I was using I could barely call out "on the left!", near the end though I was able to get more out of my mouth. ** note: Do not listen to husband when he says "you dont need a water bottle its only a sprint", Ummm I was sooo thirsty and my mouth was so dry and salty. The water bottle will not be forgotten next time :) BIKE TIME : 37:01
Now during one of the transition areas I scrapped the living crap out of my right foot. So this run was a little uncomfortable. The transition again was somewhat smooth. I felt as though my carbon fiber bike weighed a million pounds and could barely get it back onto the rack. Then the test was getting my feet into my VFF's fast enough, but of course my left foot was numb, so it took a couple seconds getting my toes in the right toe slots. Thew my hat on, on the run and I was out of T2! T2: 1:16
I WAS TIRED, right when I started running it felt as though I was slammed with a wave. "PHEW" push push push, Had to run out those tired legs... well I dont think they were so much tired but felt "weird". Took a little while to get into a groove but the first mile was my fastest at 9:17, everything else was downhill. Remember this was the third time running post injury rehab. I knew not to expect to much, saw 2 chicks I had passed up on the bike , FLY by me. Whatever though , I was happy I was alive, happy to have been there and happy to see everyone! At this time I was talking to EVERYONE, even cheering on the squirrel I saw. People probably though I was crazy, they definitely had that look like "how does she have the energy to even smile?"
The last .25 mile I could hear my 2 year old screaming and saw my little family. Husband was all smiles and my 2 year old screaming "there she is! there she is!". Yes, Im a "she" or he calls me "dad". I was so happy to see them, then pushed down on the gas an finished strong. The end is always abrupt in races, they are trying to rip of timing tags, but this time I was slammed with questions on my VFF Bikilas. hahahaha, I just wanted to get out of there, I was STARVING. FINISHING TIME: 1:15:05
Is it crazy to say that once I cleared the finish line I was already thinking about my olympic distance to complete?
Thats all I could think about, it felt as though that race was already in the past and I was on to my next conquest. The husband brought me down to reality, and we covered how it went and he showed me his paparazzi photos. I love him.
We hovered around for awhile. Waiting to see the final results. My watch was only off a couple of seconds. But I know my husband wanted to see the OFFICIAL time. Once they did post them I was just happy I was on the FIRST sheet, that was a big enough accomplishment in itself. I mean this was my first triathlon I didnt know what to expect. Took some time checking them over and seeing others times. It looked like I had placed 4rth in my age group. Not bad but then you think "crap, If I could actually have run I couldve made top 3!" .
After it all I was ready to go eat! The pancakes they were serving werent going to top me off. The hubby wanted to stay for the awards, so I just walked over to the car and started packing up. Such a process, had to change the kids ( somehow they were TRASHED ), put the stroller in, break down my bike put that in. Load up the kids.... egh VERY tired at this point. Then I get in the car and breathe. Someone started crying and I went to get out of the car and stepped on glass!! Oh gosh it hurt so bad and I had to dig it out. After finding the tiny glass in my foot I wanted to go home , I then start screaming at the hubby to get into the car when I heard my name called. What?!? Third in my age group?? I hopped out of the car looked at my husband in shock then jog/limped over to the tent. I asked them if they called my name, and yep they did! Amazingly the announcer remembered who I was from the clinic 2 weeks prior and spilled out that I was doing half ironman in September. At this point I wanted to fall down crying! My eyes were filled with tears, thank goodness for the sunglasses because I was the only one this emotional. Such an accomplishment. I was sooooo happy and shocked. What more could you ask for?
So they gave me my goodies and I walked away with hubby with a massive smile on my face. At this point I could tell the hubby was proud. Plus he was excited over the fact that one of the prizes was a box of his favorite Luna protein bars.
Got in the car, threw the 2 year old a protein bar ( he apparently loves them too) and we were off. Awww.... it was a good day. Post race fuel was a double double from IN-N-OUT. Well deserved.
Closing remarks?
Expect the unexpected. Dream big. Anything is possible. 6 months ago I was 30 pounds heavier, and could barely swim across the pool and today I just completed and placed in my first triathlon.
