My fans are waiting!

I know, you want to know, but I haven't gotten any good pictures yet! (and I probably won't get any GOOD ones) but here goes:I successfully completed the longest and most arduous Triathlon I have ever done on Saturday, July 12th. It is an International or Olympic Distance and this one did not fool around with the short swim or easy bike course either! In fact, even the run was difficult with about four different terrains, now that I think about it! I will give the (as close as I get to it) Reader's Digest version of my experience, but if you want every drop of detail, I can send you the nitty gritty race report later...

Anyway, lots of prayers were said on Friday when my mother in law and I saw the bike course- all up hill. I cried and prayed alot and the next morning, I actually adopted a whole new attitude- riding up and down hills just might be fun. So I took that with me, and tried to ignore that up to seeing the bike course, I had been scared of the mile lake swim!
Another thing I had been praying about was my wetsuit. I did an open water practice with it on Wednesday and was really having a terrible time with it. I prayed that I might get a specific answer whether or not to wear it because I had reasons for both. Twenty minutes after arriving at the race, an announcement is made: the water temperature is 83 degrees- all wetsuits are BANNED from the competition- so is THAT specific enough for me????

Anyway, open water swim was actually quite nice, albeit slow, but there were plenty of life boats to save me if I went too wild. You had to run up a pier and 35 steps, then into transition to get your bike, Run with your bike to a mounting area and then off you go on your 28 miles of hills!


would you know I had so many prayers answered that day, that it WAS actually alot of fun zooming down hills! The hill that I could not even gear my manual transmission car on (it was THAT steep) was really tough, but I DID NOT get off of my bike a single moment the entire course- and I have to say I am really proud of that, because I passed several that had to walk their bike up (I had even asked the race director if it was legal to do, because I was totally planning on it!!!) . Granted I was going less than 5 miles an hour, but I was pumping it!!!

The five mile run was heavy and hard by that point- I think the awards ceremony was over by then as well, and my legs felt like tree trunks after that strenuous ride, but I kept going. I freaked out early on because I realized that I didn't have my bib (number) on and was terrified they were going to DQ me after all that work!! I admit I walked a good chunk, especially when we were running on grass (seriously??!!) and it was so hot, i was just trying to stay upright- let alone moivng forward. Near the finish, I started my sprint in, and the huge tri team camped there began blowing bull horns,and cheering so i ran even faster to at least finish with some dignity. The Very Best Thing was that my mother in law brought the kids- and they were cheering for me as I came in! I felt so proud that they could see me cross the finish line!


Less than four hours (not MUCH less) after I started, I finished it!