There is no Tri

Well actually there is but there is only DO!  I did it.  I finished my very first Triathlon which consisted of a 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride and 5K run.  I had two friends do it last year, Hayley and Tara, they made it sound so liberating that I decided I wanted to do it this year.  Tara was due right before the Tri date and Hayley is very pregnant so neither were able to participate.  Hayley ended up getting a team together and did the swim at 6 months pregnant, still my idol.  Now since it is my blog I am going to turn  the time back over to ME! ; P  It was rough, but it was so worth it.  When I started training, I could swim, only breast stroke, in about 15 minutes.  I think our first bike ride was a little over an hour and the run...well I did a 5K in the late spring and it was 39 minutes.

My friend Teri and I trained pretty much 6 days a week starting in June.  It was lots of work and there were days that I just didn't want to but knowing that she is a stellar athlete I didn't want to stand her up.  We had lots of team members train with us too when they were available, Tara, Michelle, and Eve.  It was so much fun and made for lots of "girl time."

This is our team!  Moms Tri Hard!

The week before the Tri, I could swim 400 yards in under 10 minutes (9:41 I think was my fastest), Teri and I biked in 48 minutes.  And I ran a consistent 2.5 miles in 27 minutes.  I was so nervous the last couple days before.

Race Day:  We showed up at Teri's this morning at 5:40 to watch her very supportive husband load up all the bikes.  Our team was 11 people but 8 of us rode up together.  We had a veteran See Jane Runner, she brought gold tinsel to tie from her helmet and shared with us.  When we got there we were surprised to see that we had a rack reserved for us.  Wow, yes we are THAT special!  WE got things organized and then we made several trips to the bathroom.  Finally it was time to go.

THE SWIM:  The first 50 yards were ROUGH!  It was like I was going to drown.  You can't help but swim on top of people, so with some strokes I was hitting people in the bottom and then I was kicking people in the chest.  You can't really swim because there is absolutely no room.  Then we turned the corner and it got quite a bit better, even though it is not as luxurious as your own lane in a swimming pool.  As I turn the second buoy, I thought I wouldn't be able to make it with out resting, but I looked over and Tara was right next to me, I couldn't believe I kept up with her.  It helped me really dig in and give it all I had.  Then we had to run a bit to the transition area. My time was 10:14.6.

Transition 1: I sat down, put on my socks, who cares about sand, duck poop and mud, then my shorts, shirt and shoes.  Teri shared Shot Blocks, so I ate two of those, put on my helmet, grabbed my bike and was off!

THE BIKE:  This was by far the most fun part of the race, it went fairly smoothly, I felt like I was going pretty fast.  I had been riding on low tires, which Chris filled for me, so it really made a difference.  I passed a few people and was passed by plenty of people.  I did get stopped at a light, but after about 1 minute I was off again.  There was one point that I was feeling pretty good, laughing with one of the people I was going past.  We turned a corner and HOLY COW there was a big hill!  I made it up that and then I hit the money spot of the whole race, it was a long decline, I couldn't even peddle because I was moving so fast.  I didn't know it then, but at around mile10 I asked the guy that was helping with the race what mile it was he said "Don't know!"  Lot's of help, glad he was there.  The bike felt good, and I felt good with how it went. My time was 41:14.7

Transition 2: I dropped the bike, drank lots of water and grabbed some tunes, then I walked out while strapping on my arm band.  I get out and get the tunes moving.  On to the 5K!

THE RUN:  This is the death of me.  I was able to run 2.5 miles on a flat fairly smooth track.  This was a WHOLE LOT different.  It was a trail run, with at least four pretty good sized hills.  My goal was to run the whole thing.  I will be lucky if I finished this in 40 minutes.  It was the worst part for me.  The one good part about the run is that this is where a lot of my age group passed me up.  I didn't think I would be able to keep up but I did.  I do know now that I need to train a lot harder for the run.  My time was 37:26.6.  I walked more than I would have liked, but I beat my last time by 2 minutes, and that was flat and this was hills.

This picture is actually running from the last minute bathroom stop heading in to the race.  My almost across the finish line picture looks like I wet my pants and is not at all flattering.

Behind every good (the loosest sense of the word) athlete is a great cheering section and I found that I have the biggest and best one ever.  The kids hung around for over four hours from beginning to end.  Jeremy was awesome keeping them all safe and together and taking pictures. It was so awesome to see them at various points in the race and hear them cheer "Go April."  Not only my family but the families of the other team mates as well.  I think that doing this with a fabulous and admirable group of ladies made the experience awesome.  It was incredible, I can't wait to do it again next year with even more friends!

My goal was to do it in under 1:45. And I did better than I planned!  My overall time including transition was 1:34:35.9.  I can't wait for next year because I know I can do better!