Swim.Bike.Run

April 24- This past Saturday I raced in my first individual triathlon. It's been one of my goals to do one on my own and this winter I finally got up the gumption to do the training and the race. It was definitely a time commitment. The workouts five times a week and the long bike rides on Saturdays were sometimes hard on Shaun and the kids. I've let so many "things to do" go undone the past few months I feel like I'll never be able to dig out! But now that I've finished the race, I'm so glad I did it. The sense of accomplishment is addictive! I did a sprint distance tri, so it would be manageable!

Here are a few pictures from the race thanks to Suzy who was there every step of the way.

Here's the first heat of women lined up for the swim. They did a stagger start. In this shot, I've just started the 300 meter swim. You can see my blue noggin in the first lane.

Just finishing the swim (6:12 min). You can see me in all my pale winter white glory (I'm so nice to share this with you.) My swim was the best and shortest part of the race. : )

Transition from swim to bike.

This is at the end of the bike portion. This was the hardest part of the race for me. I knew it would be. It was an 8k off-road course for mountain bikes. A few days before the race, officials had to change the course because of weather and construction. So I'd never been on this course before and it was a lot harder than I'd trained for. There were huge boulders covering the trail, which was sometimes less than a foot wide. There were climbs and descents at 30% grade. And lots of mud and puddles. It was crazy! But I made it through- even carrying my bike up and down the stairs of the Olympic Bridge.

This is the final moment, heading toward the finish line! The run was a 5k and although I was a little slower than I wanted to be, I still finished two minutes under my goal time at 1:28:58. I placed 35th in the 18-29 age bracket.

Here's the fan club after the race. It was so cute to turn the corner and see these guys cheering me on. I didn't get a picture of Suzy but she was there cheering too (and took every single photo)! And thanks to everyone else who gave me lots of encouragement along the way. I'm tempted to do another race this summer, but I don't think my family life can handle it!