I should have wrote about this a few weeks ago when it was fresh in my mind. I completed my first "real" triathlon on May 18th! After my "successful" open water swim earlier in the week, I thought I had shook off the rookie nerves but when I got into the sand at Longview Lake beach, I said "what am I doing???" I ended up being just fine although I certainly didn't break any records swimming. Maybe this was because I looked up after about a minute of swimming and I wasn't going in the right direction... Anyway, I straightened out and managed to pass a bunch of people at the end of it. I was shocked and amused about what I saw when I raised my head out of the water to breathe. Several people were doing a backstroke and some others were doggy-paddling to save their life. And then the swim was over! My journey of 1) learning how to swim, 2) getting over my fear of deep water, and 3) feeling good in the water was complete. It only took 8 months.... My cold little feet scrambled to my first transition. The barefoot run was pretty painful but I managed to do what I thought was a smooth T1. After the race, the numbers didn't appear to show that it was smooth. Over 4 minutes - yikes! I took off and mounted my bike and continued on. The bike right ended up being about what I expected. It was a hilly-ish course and I did it in about 50 minutes and 18 mph. I lost some ground trying to remove my feet from my shoes but then I was off and the bike was over. I don't remember the last time I ran a 5k. I had no idea what I could run such a short race in so I just stuck to keeping my respiration rate at a healthy level. I finished it in just over 23 minutes and feel okay with it. I'm not much of a "sprinter". I was greeted kindly at the finish line by my supporters. Even the Flogels got to witness my first triathlon. My mom looked at the results and told me I got third or fourth in my age group. When I got the printed receipt, it said I had won my age group... Ummm??!! So I got a cool beer mug trophy and a satisfied feeling that finishing Kansas 70.3 is not only possible but will be fun!! I'm addicted....
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AuthorAggressive endurance athlete ready for a new challenge. Archives
September 2015
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