Saturday, I competed in my very first triathlon.
I have been training for over a year now. I was signed up to do a triathlon last September; however, it was cancelled at the last minute. It was so late in the season that I could not sign up for another one. As soon as I saw a triathlon pop up for the beginning of tri season, I signed up. I convinced, (it wasn't very hard) my friend, Melanie Iverson, to do the tri with me. She has done a few other triathlons so she was a wealth of knowledge for me. We started swimming, biking, and running together every chance we got. I was a little worried in March that I hadn't been training hard enough so I stepped up my training game.
Race day came on April 21st.
I was more than prepared. I have watched countless youtube videos and asked Melanie a million questions. I was still very nervous as I had never done all three in row before. As part of our training, we had biked, then ran, and then later that evening we swam. I had never done all three in a row, so I was nervous to see if my body could complete the entire race.
I am happy to say, it was fun and easy!
I started the race right next to Melanie in lane one. We swim about the same speed and it was fun to run in to the transition are with her. We were the second and third ones out of the pool. I put on my helmet, my bike shoes, and jumped on my bike. I started running out the gate towards the high way as I felt the freezing air hit my legs. The pool water was really warm and the stark cold wind outside was NOT refreshing. I started pedaling up the 6 mile hill with a serious head wind mixed with a cross wind. It was horrible! I pedaled so hard and I don't think I was moving faster than 8 miles an hour. I didn't have my phone and I forgot to set my watch, so I had no idea how far I had gone. I kept trying to just "feel" how far I had gone. I ride 12 miles to and from my house all the time, but this was different. I was using a lot of leg power just to get up the hill. The wind was howling in my ears as I pedaled. A guy finally passed me on the hill. He had HUGE quads. He hit a slight down hill then I saw him turn around. I was so happy to see him turn around. That meant I was going to get to turn around and go down hill all the way back to the high school.
As soon as I turned around it was silent. I thought for a second that the wind had stopped. Then I felt it start pushing me back down the hill at record speeds. I wish I had set my watch right so I could see how fast I was going. I don't think I have ever gone that fast on my bike in my life. As I approached the high school I was alone and I suddenly could not remember where to go. The entire race was not well marked so I felt myself guessing a lot on the bike portion. Little did I know, the run portion of the race was going to be worse!
I made my way back in to transition as a woman passed me on her bike. I was sort of glad because I had no idea where to go. She jumped off her bike and so did I. We changed our shoes and were out the gate. Melanie was right behind us. The lady that had passed me was doing the Olympic distance and I only figured that out because we got lost so many times trying to find the running path that I had enough time to stop and ask her questions. It was so chaotic. Melanie caught up and we started trying to figure out which way to go on the run. We never figured it out. After about 15 minutes of running in crazy circles, we turned around and headed back to the finish line. I am going to assume we ran our 3.1 miles, but I honestly have no idea if we ran farther or not.
Melanie and I crossed the finish line at the same time. It was so fun to have her by my side on the chaotic run. I think we were the first women back so it is safe to assume we won!
The most frustrating part of the race actually involved the kids tri. I signed both my boys up to do the triathlon along side Melanie's two girls, Hattie and Anna. The race coordinator had told us he was starting the kids race at 10:30. We seriously hustled to get back in time to watch their race. We crossed the finish line at 10:45ish. As we crossed I heard Nolen screaming on his bike. I was so bummed that I missed their race. I ran over to him to figure out what was going on. There were no race officials watching their race. Just my parents, my niece Amanda, and one other dad. It was sad. Apparently, Nolen didn't know where to go or what to do and to make matters worse, his shoe lace got wrapped around his bike pedal. Then he got frustrated because he had to stop to fix his shoe so he was loosing. I helped the kids take off their helmets and they ran around the track twice, then crossed the finish line.
All in all, it was a fun day. Edward loved it. He said he wants to do more triathlons in the future. I think Nolen will come around, it will just take him some time to forget about the shoe lace incident.
I learned so much when training for this triathlon. Back in February, I kicked a lane line while swimming and broke my toe. Then in March I wrecked my bike. Hilarious!
I could not have completed this race with out the help of my friend Melanie. She is so positive and always encouraging. She is fun to talk to on long bike rides and we have the same pace with all three sports. She is seriously so kind. I am truly going to miss her when she moves.
I am so glad my parents decided to drive over from Arizona to watch the race. They are my best cheer leaders. They helped the boys with the race and even went to four corners with us after ward. My niece, Amanda, flew here to watch my boys while I raced and she ended up having to help with the entire race. She was the designated shoe tier. She is so sweet and I am so lucky to have her in my life. I am also so blessed to have an amazing husband who cheers me on while he is stuck at work. It was truly a fun day and worth all the extra effort!
Maybe I'll do another one soon!
