AKA...Holy Shit I actually worse spandex in public and allowed myself to be photographed.
So...as someone that normally gets a little nervous about things like racing (shut up Jeff)...I was...to say the least...a bit apprehensive yesterday after finishing the relay for the Oly. However...after the first decent night sleep in about a week...I woke up refreshed and ready to race...at 1:45am. I then rolled over...realized what time it was, and decided to sleep a little more.
So when I woke up the second time...I once again was feeling quite good about the day ahead.
Once I finally arrived, had a second cup of coffee, and set up my transition...there wasn't too much time to stand around a get nervous. We headed down to the swim start, I warmed up a little, which relaxed me.
The swim was mostly uneventful. My form (which I've been working on a lot lately) felt good. I knew I wouldn't be the fastest person out there...but my goal was to get out of the water...and it would be nice if I wasn't the last person to do so. And I wasn't.
I ran to transition...got to business...and rolled out on my bike. Now...for those that don't know me...I'm not the greatest cyclist. By far my weakest discipline. And I've had a few...problems...falling over...sliding down a hill, etc. So this, of course, was the leg that I was most concerned about. I was about 2 miles into the ride when I was thinking to myself "why is it I'm doing this again? Oh yeah...because it's fun." I reached the first big down hill, and saw how steep it was. I nearly peed in my tri shorts...but then realized that there wasn't anyone in front of me, and I could see that it didn't end on a huge curve...so I went for it. Didn't touch my brakes at all. Ed...you were right...it felt amazing. There were some other hills that I was more cautious going down, but I still made it. There were several instances that I had to tell myself to just keep going...and I did. I ended up walking up a couple of hills...but I'm ok with that.
For those of you that were cheering for me as I came in off the bike...I'm sure you saw the massive smile on my face. The warm welcome you gave me helped...but only because of what your cheering meant...I had successfully survived the bike leg. Now all I had to do was run 3 miles...no big deal. Oh...excuse me...3.1.
The run went ok. Not the greatest run that I've ever had...but I still finished it. I walked a little more than I had planned, or hoped to...but again...I'm ok with that. It did make me feel a little better that a couple of people were surprised to see me back so soon.
The finish was awesome with the sea of green waiting for the rest of us to finish....and again...I had a huge smile on my face. My goal for today was to simply finish the race. I didn't want to be the last one to cross the finish line...but as long as I crossed...it didn't really matter.
A huge thanks to everyone that cheered today. There were times I don't think I could have done it without you...nor would I have wanted to. Seriously...after the bike leg...the amount of noise you made was amazing, and not only did I have a huge smile on my face, I had tears in my eyes. Thank GOD I was wearing sunglasses...because I don't think I could have lived down crying during my first tri.
A special thanks to Jeff, who was the first one that urged me to start training for a tri, and has been a huge support the past couple of months from giving me advice on any topic imaginable to literally picking me up off the ground...several times...and telling me to shut up when I needed to :)
I know that I have a lot of work to do before the next race...but I'm definitely looking forward to it. :)
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