Spring Sprint

This weekend I competed in my first triathlon! I was SO nervous going into it, mostly because I felt so unprepared going into it, however, Friday night rolled around and it was go time.

When I first signed up for the race, I figured it would take me 30 minutes to finish the 750 meters, which is 15 laps (down and back is 1 lap). Since I've taken lessons the last 3 or 4 weeks, I felt like 20 minutes was a good number to shoot for.I swam it in 18:28!!! I was so excited.
Marc and my parents were there to cheer me on, which was so helpful! I was appreciative of the support.
After a horrible night of sleep, I rushed to get the kids & I fed, dressed, and out the door. Marc was working at the race and left at 6:00 in the morning. I took the kids to my parents so I could get to the race early and get everything set up. They lined up all the racers outside the transition area and started the clock. At 7:32 the first athlete, my swim coach Kevin Everett ran out to grab his bike and start (it took him 7:32 to finish his swim) so then, at whatever time your swim time was, that's when you went out to grab your bike. My swim time was 18:28, I was towards the back of the pack, notice how many bikes are already out of the transition area?Do you like my little orange bike?? That was my Birthday gift from my family. Last year my bike was stolen and I was in need of a new one, so we spent a little bit of our tax return on a bike. Previous to the race, I had ridden outside on it once (last Wednesday night). It took me around 50 minutes to ride 12.5 miles. We rode from Camel's Back Park on Hill road up to Seaman's Gulch and back.

I made the mistake of not wearing pants and I was cold! At least I had gloves those helped a ton.I had very rubbery legs getting off the bike, it was difficult to get them moving on the run. Somewhere I missed the explanation that the running part of the race was in the foothill trails of Boise. The first 1.5 miles were uphill, in sand and gravel. I was nearly cursing I was so mad about my inability to run in those conditions. My powerwalk was faster than my uphill jog, so most of my first mile was spent walking.
The good thing about the trails was the last 1.7 miles were mostly downhill and I was able to make up a lot of time and pass a few people, including this lady who I was at least 800 meters behind. I overtook her the last few feet of the finish line in an all out sprint!
And so I did it!! I finished a triathlon. It was slow, and I was near the end, but I did it! At this point, I would like to do another Sprint. I'm hesitant about an Olympic distance because its nearly double all the distances of the sprint. But I really like the variety of the three disciplines and the satisfaction of actually completing one. A HUGE thanks to my parents who helped with our kids on Saturday and were even brave enough to take all 3 to the race to cheer me on. It was so fun to have my family there cheering me on. And even bigger thanks to Marc who was my #1 supporter. He really has been my biggest motivator and fan. I couldn't have done it without him!