It's Official !!!!!!! (be prepared, this is a long one)

I'm a triathlete! Yay! I wanted to post this yesterday immediately after the race, but.......well....... I passed out, ha!

No, seriously, yesterday was great. Here's how things all went down:

We (Mimi and I) arrive and its still completely dark outside. I never realized how stressful it could be to get two bikes out of the car and put back together, dig out two large gym bags, account for several water bottles and Gatorade's, pump up four tires, and try not to get hit by all the hundreds of vehicles pulling in right behind us, all in the dark. But we DID finally make it down to transition area.

The Swim: 400 yards / time: 10:15

The swim was hard, which I knew it would be. Mimi is so much better than I am at this. She swam in college, so she is natural. While on the beach and watching the first two waves go ahead of us, I was hoping for fairly cool water. However, much to my surprise, it was terribly warm! So I got hot real quick. I made it to the first buoy OK, but then the breathing got tough. I looked around and I was in the back of the pack among my age group. This didn't bother me, b/c I totally expected it. By the time I hit the 2nd buoy, I noticed a slight currant being formed by all the swimmers and this helped tremendously, ha ha. And then, finally, up in the distance, there it was....... the exit! My run out of the water brought feelings of exhaustion and excitement accompanied by the proud feeling I had knowing that someone was out there shouting MY name. (Thanks Kelly)!

The Bike: 13 miles / time: 47:06

Yee haw! I'm on the bike and feeling great! Mimi was ahead of me by about 2 and a half minutes, but she and I both already pre-determined that I would probably catch up with her on the bike. And I would have totally done it had I not had to pull over at mile 1. I initially thought I had a flat, but a spectator and myself realized that some one's helmet number got caught in my wheel. He helped me pulled it out and then he gave a little push to get me started again (that was kinda cool). Not much to say about this portion except I felt pretty good the whole time. As I entered back into the transition area, I noticed Mimi exiting (damn you helmet number!!!).

The Run: 3.66 miles or 4.1 miles (we're not really sure) / time: 38:37

Here we go! The last leg! We start with a few killer hills, but I kept my pace a little slower than I would normally do, b/c I didn't want to give out too early. Had a couple of little pains start and end in each foot, but I got through them. The highlight was when I came up to a corner and looked over to see my husband and two sweet boys. They were all smiling and clapping. As you can see, the distance is still kinda undetermined. It was supposed to be a 5K. But once we exited the trail part of the run, one of the volunteers was there shouting "You're at 3.2! You're getting a little more than you bargained for!" What??!! Weren't we supposed to finish a tenth of a mile back??! We were all a little confused, but I kept my same pace. I didn't stop and I didn't slow down. As a matter of fact, as soon as I saw Main Street up ahead, I kicked it up a notch. And there she was.......a gorgeous site........the finish line! Kelly was there to high five me right before the finish and my three boys (hubby and twins) were there with big hugs on the other side of the line.


What a great feeling! No wonder this is addicting. Next one, here I come!