TRI-umphant

I am a. . .Triathlete.

This morning I completed my first official triathlon, and loved it!
I was most nervous about the swim, as that is my weakest area - I don't really have much practice, nor a lot of opportunity to practice.  So I was anxious about it, to say the least.  I was pretty confident in my biking and running though, so that's what helped push me through.

I participated in the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon, which is targeted at women, and very encouraging of first time triathletes. 

As always, I was up at zero dark thirty to get ready and head out.  I got to the race site parking by 6:40, and was through packet-pick-up, chip wrapping, body markings and transition set-up by 7:30am. 

The race started at 8am.

Let me clarify that - the race started at 8am, for those who were so confident in their swim abilities to list "10" - the fastest swimming slot on their sign-up, and so they got to go into the building first to start their swim.

I was still standing outside, waiting to enter the building, to go to the pool, when the first runners came through to head to the finish (keep in mind that the order is swim, bike, run - so if the runners were coming through. . .well. . .you get the idea).

This particular Tri utilized an indoor pool at an Aquatic Center.  Some Tri's use local lakes or ponds.  I felt like for my lack of swimming experience that the pool would be best, because if I really, really needed to stop, there would be a wall/lifeguard nearby.

No worries.  I did better than expected at the swim (although still my slowest pace time).  This swim was 250 yards - 10 lanes of 25 yards each.  I didn't drown.  I didn't drown anyone else. 

From the swim, we exited the building to head out to the parking lot transition area.  I managed to get to my bike, and shove my wet feet into socks (I hadn't planned on this being an added challenge, but it was).  Got my bike, and headed out to a 9 mile ride.  This part was fun, and I felt good about my riding. 

Back towards transition, on an uphill.  Got my bike onto the rack, and my feet into my running shoes.
Running after biking is always awkward, to me, at first.  It seems to take a good 1/2 mile before I feel like my legs are functioning properly.  This was no different, but at least I could anticipate it, and the run was only 2 miles. 

Similar to the riding, I felt good about the running.  The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day.

I finished strong, although I don't know my time.  I aimed to complete and have fun, and was hoping for an hour or less on the final time.  **Just checked and my final time was 0:57:11**

No matter, it was a great experience.  I would certainly TRI it again.

As a side note - this race came at the end of a very rough motherhood/working week.  It was one of those weeks where nothing seemed to go right, people were snappy and demanding (myself included), and I was so grateful when Friday night rolled around, and I could at least start to recover from the hectic craziness of our weekday schedules.


During the TRI, I found myself thinking that as challenging as these races can be - nothing is more challenging than the day-to-day of life.  In fact, I often find myself thinking that my runs/bikes/races are a break from my daily demands and craziness. 

This was a great way to end one week, and start another.