Triathlon

I did my triathlon last Saturday, May 17. What a feeling of accomplishment. I am so proud of me (it sounds stupid, but I'm not ashamed).


It was the Women of Steel Triathlon, and it was a Sprint Triathlon (a shorter Triathlon). But it was awesome, and I would say that I would be willing to do it again. I finished 131 out of 459 competitors, and I finished 36 in my age category. We swam 300 meters (in a pool), biked 11.5 miles, and ran 3 miles. There is no question that I was tired when I finished, and to run after doing the other things is really hard. But I did it.

I did the triathlon with two women in my ward, Melanie and Christy. Mel and I are not thin and trim, where Christy is (and not just thin and trim, but in shape). So, it was interesting to see how things ended up (I did the best out of the three of us, but not by much, I only beat Christy by 52 seconds).

I started getting sick to my stomach on Friday. And needless to say, I didn't sleep very well on Friday night. Mel and I carpooled and she picked me up around 6:20. We go there in plenty of time, and were able to set up where we wanted to in the transition area, and get our timing chip without any problem. We had some down time, but it was nice not to feel rushed.

At 7:45 we were to meet at the pool. They had us lined up according to time (by minutes). I was in the 5 minute category and they were in the 7 minute category. They started putting 2 people in the pool every 10 seconds right at 8:00. It took me somewhere between 7 to 10 minutes to get loaded into the pool. It was crazy, 10 seconds was not enough time between people, there were people passing and I got in a pile-up of about 4 women. Needless to say, the swim did not go as well as I had hoped, and it is by far my strongest event. I had two friends come to support me during my swim, but I never saw them, and they struggled to find me. Thanks Melinda and Karyn for coming to support me. I appreciate it, even if we had a hard time finding one another.


Once done with the swim I ran to get my bike. Coming out of the bike area, Melanie's husband, Harold, and kids cheered me on. I had a hard time getting my feet into my cages, but was soon on my way. We went right into a hill, and it was sure tough, but the bike ride went well. I was getting a little worried that I was pushing too hard on the bike and was not going to have enough energy for the run, but I did well in the run. Just as I was getting to the end of the first bike loop, Mike yelled to me. They were just getting to the course to support me and hadn't got set up yet. But it totally made my day. Thanks family for supporting me. I had one other little problem, going up the hill the second time (two loop course), my feet came out of my cages and again I struggled to get them back in especially while trying to peddle up the hill.


When I finished the bike I headed out to do my run. While in the transition area, the very first triathlete was finishing the race. I just had to remind myself that I was doing it for fun and that it didn't matter (because I'm not competitive, right). Not to mention that people started before me. Man when you start the run, your legs feel like total bricks, they are so heavy. And again, we did a similar route for the run, so we had a big hill to go up. I had told myself that I was going to try and run it. I made it about half way and had to walk some, but I began running as the hill flattened out. Just after that, I found a girl with a similar pace and began to stick about a stride and a half behind her. There came a time or two when I would near her and yet she continued to stay in the lead. Finally after we were back on the Alpine Highway, and in the last mile, this girl began to slow down and I knew I was going to pass her. As I got to the side of her, I told her "Come on, I've been pacing you this whole time, don't quit now.", and she picked up her pace and we ran the rest of the way together. I wish I could remember her name, because she helped me finish the run. She was a huge help to me.


Anyway, I finished and in a time I could hardly believe. I knew I could do it in two hours, and I expected to do it in about an hour and 45 minutes. But I finished in 1 hour and 21 minutes and 7 seconds. I was shocked. I expected the bike to take me about an hour (I never timed my bike ride), but it only took me 43 minutes. And I expected my run to take 30 to 32 minutes, I did it in 25 minutes and 32 seconds. The swim was interesting, my time was 8:18, but I think some of that has to do with where their timing strips are, in fact the fastest swim was only 6:45 (I was 56th in the swim). I guess I underestimated myself. It felt good to do way better than I thought I would. And it was nice for my race to be in a place close to home so people could come support me.

Melanie and Christy ended up starting the race about 30 minutes behind me. Christy said she heard them call my name as I crossed the finish line (I didn't hear them do it) while she was transitioning to the bike. Melanie passed me on her second loop of the bike while I was doing my run. And Christy wasn't far behind her (Christy had passed me and was far enough ahead that I couldn't cheer her on). But Christy ended up beating Melanie in the run. Mel always said running wasn't her strong point, but she was proud of her run.

Way to go girls!!! It was so fun!!