See Jane Tri

Today I competed in my first triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon, but a triathlon none the less.

Alyson had talked me into training for it. I'm not a great swimmer and didn't think I could do the swim. I tried to talk a couple of different friends into doing the swim for me, but they wouldn't do it. So Alyson, graciously said that she would do the swim. I really appreciated this, because I knew that she wanted to do the whole thing, but there was no way I could train for all three portions of it, especially the swim, in the 6 weeks we had to train for it.

So I half-heartedly trained. I was training for my 5k that was last weekend and I rode my bike, I think a total of 5 times, if that. The farthest I went on my bike to train was 9 miles, the triathlon was 11 miles.

I went to bed last night at 9:30 after a warm bath and a chamomile tea to help me relax, and hopefully get a good night's sleep. Instead, I was up every hour starting at 11:30. I was SO nervous! I woke up at 5:00 with a pounding headache wondering what I had gotten myself into!

Alyson picked me up at 5:55 a.m. She didn't tell me that part of the triathlon until the night before. I wouldn't have signed up for that!! I couldn't figure out why we needed to be there so early, the race didn't start until 8! We pulled into the parking lot and it was PACKED! I couldn't believe it. The race last weekend, I got to 45 minutes before it started and I was WAY early. I was getting more nervous now, these people were serious about this!

We got all checked in and waited for the race to start. I was starting to get really nervous and didn't know how I was going to make it. Alyson did the first portion, the swimming, really quick! Much too fast, it didn't give me time to bail out!

She came out of the water and it was my turn to bike. YIKES! We didn't transition very fast, but fast enough.

I took off and got to the start line which was at the bottom of a hill. I didn't have my gears in the lowest gear so it was hard to get up the hill and the gears weren't shifting very well, I finally got them going and made it to the top. About 1/2 mile into the bike ride I was again questioning why I signed up for this. After about the 1st mile I got my groove on and biked along. I kept a fairly good pace, not too fast, not too slow. I just kept telling myself to not push it, I still had the 5k to do. At mile 6 there was a pretty good size hill, I didn't have any way of knowing what mile we were on, so I just kept waiting for that hill. I made it up the hill, no problem, including passing a few people. After the hill it was easy sailing.

When I turned the corner and saw we were almost back to the beginning, I was really excited and decided it wasn't so bad! Coming down the hill to people standing there was a little scary.

I was really excited when I got back and was ready to do the run. I had asked Alyson to bring her running shoes in case I needed her to pace with me so I could finish the run. She asked if I needed her and I told her to meet me at the end.







A quick kiss from Isabella and Frankie and I was ready to go again!

The first 1/2 mile of the 5k was difficult because I couldn't get my legs to move in the right direction. They kept wanting to go up and down and I wanted them to go forward. From .5 miles to 2 miles I was doing okay. Not great, but okay. I had to stop a walk to catch my breath and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe deep and not short little quick breaths. Breathing deep is my biggest problem with running. My legs never tire out, my lungs do. I'm sure it doesn't help that I've had bronchitis and some kind of cough for the last 4 weeks.

Olivia and Isabella waiting for it all to be over. Excuse my messy daughter, Daddy got her ready today and he doesn't know how to fix her hair.

Alyson came and met me at mile 3. It was a good thing she did. I wanted to run into the finish, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it! Having her there next to me helped push me, she was all fresh and full of energy! We didn't mean to wear matching outfits, but we happened to. Finishing the race was very emotional. As soon as I saw Alyson standing there I started to tear up, as I crossed the finish line, I really lost it. It was so much adrenalin and then just a release. It was a great feeling to accomplish it. I can't wait for the next one!