I guess the idea of doing a triathlon crept into my head after being advised not to do long runs from my foot surgeon. Instead, I was told I should swim and ride a bike for exercise. When I first looked into TRIs, I DID NOT like the idea of swimming in the ocean. Not just because of sharks, but for the many other creepy things that lurk around in there, and not to mention taking in a big mouthful of salt water would be disgusting. However, one day I was looking at races in the area on active.com, and I found an all women's SPRINT triathlon. I knew little about TRIs, and didn't know anything about what a Sprint tri was. I was glad to see the length of the race significantly shorter than what I knew about the "real" triathlon called the Ironman. Though it was shorter, it was still "meaty" enough to feel like I would have accomplished something once I finished it. The swim was .75 km (about 1/2 a mile), the bike route was 12 miles, and the run was 2.75 miles. I signed up and payed $50.00 to torture myself..haha...then I started training. Raleigh was such a supportive husband. We were already running together, but then he started riding bikes with me and swimming. We swam in the lake and then in a pool IN OCTOBER and I found out I was HORRIBLE at the freestyle stroke. Raleigh would say, "how do you live in Florida and not know how to swim?" And I would reply, "there is a big difference between swimming and freestyling!!!" We went swimming at our Pastor's house, and his wife has been an avid swimmer for many years, and she would say, "watch Raleigh do this, watch how he does that,...blah blah blah, Raleigh, Raleigh, Raleigh." He made me ill with how well he could do the freestyle stroke. Funny thing is, I didn't care about how I would swim half a mile. As long as I was moving forward, I would be okay. The difference between Raleigh and I is I just wanted to finish (not particularly last, but I knew I wouldn't be first). Raleigh on the other hand would like to finish in the top 10, so he won't enter one until he's trained longer. He even asked me once when we first started training if I was prepared for the fact that I might not win. hahahahahahahahahaha this still cracks me up. Of course I knew I wouldn't win, and I really didn't care who I lost to. I was only out there for myself and the feeling of accomplishing a goal.
So, the day of my birthday, October 24th, Raleigh, Brandon and I headed down to Orlando. We arrived at the park for a meeting with the man who organizes the events, and he took us on a tour of the track we would be taking. Brandon kept asking me if I was nervous, and I honestly was not. I just wanted to get out there and get it OVER with!
The next morning, October 25th, we woke up at 5:15 AM!! Over 300 women entered the race. It was such a cool feeling walking around and setting up and seeing all of the women out there of every age and stature. The swim started at just after 7:00. It was cold, dark, murky water.
I knew this would be my weakest event, and it was. I was one of the LAST 6 people to get out of the water.
I probably invented a few new strokes while I was out there. I did the side stroke, back stroke, breast-stroke, freestyle (my version), a little regular swimming, and a few others that have not been named. The heat I was in was the last to enter the swim, so I really felt WAY behind when I finally made it out of the water.
But Raleigh and Brandon were there on the shore cheering me on and running with me to the 1st transitional area where I would get ready to ride my bike.
I am very confident on the bike. I had borrowed a friend's road bike and it was FAST! I loved it!
I immediately caught up and passed several women. Our ages were written on the back of our right calf, so as I passed each woman I would look at their age and think to myself, "HA! I'm 10 years older than her!!" Okay, I know, it's not about winning...haha. The bike route was beautiful. It weaved in and out of some really nice neighborhoods and was visually appealing the whole way. It made the time go by quickly...plus I was riding so fast..remember??!!! As I finished up the ride, Brandon was waiting down the road for me to take pictures and yell, "GO MOM!!" So sweet.
I dismounted the bike, carefully as to NOT fall over in front of the crowd, and ran to put my bike back in the transitional area. I changed into my running shoes and took off on the last leg of the race!
I felt good as I started to run and knew I could run 2.75 miles. I had probably trained in this area the most. The run took us back in a campground area and we ran on limerock. Only thing is, it started to DOWNPOUR! It felt good to run in the rain, and thank goodness I wore a visor, but the road was covered in puddles. I had to practically zig-zag the whole way. But I continued on and tried not to let Raleigh down. He begged me to run the whole way and ONLY walk about 20 yards if I had to in order to catch my breath. I ran the 1st two miles without stopping and walked for a very short distance then ran the rest of the way. I was greeted once again by Brandon as I ran out of the woods towards the finish line and he jogged with me for the remaining 25 yards or so. I finished the race with a smile and felt great.
Raleigh asked me how I felt, and I was like, "I'm fine" and I think he knew then that I didn't PUSH myself to finish faster. He was proud of me, but I knew that if it was him finishing, he would be near death to be closer to the top...haha.
The important thing is I ENJOYED the triathlon. I did not want to finish the race and then never want to do one again. I pushed myself, but not to complete exhaustion. I finished in an hour and 47 minutes, 13 minutes under my goal of less than 2 hours!
Swim 1/2 mile: 22 minutes
Bike 12 miles: 46 minutes
Run 2.75 miles: 31 minutes
I'm happy with that...we'll see how I do next time!!!
