My First Triathlon

Well, I guess now I can officially say I have completed a Triathlon. And, yes, I say this with great pride. Even after all the training it was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, physically and mentally. I have never pushed myself so hard. I kept thinking that I wanted to quit, or walk, but then I would remind myself that this is what I trained for and it won't kill me.

It started Friday night when Cori, Jen, Kristin, Kelly and I headed up to the Ft. Leavenworth base to pick up our packets and scope out the course. I was in shock as we drove around... actually I was scared to death. I started to get really nervous and sick to my stomach. Friday night I think I got about 2-3 hours of sleep and started my day Saturday at 4:45am. I gagged my peanut butter toast and banana down, wanting to throw up the entire time. We got to the base about 6am and set up. We spent the remaining time until 8am being sick, nervous and going pee about every 10 minutes.

The swim was first and as we were standing in line to get in, I finally settled down. My swim time was 3 minutes 38 seconds, which I was very happy with since it was a serpentine style swim and I couldn't do flip turns. I ran out of the pool to the transition area. I really had all this stuff planned out that I was going to do during my transition, but it turned into just the basics of taking my swimcap and goggles off, putting my capris and tank top on, then socks, shoes, helmet and sunglasses. Then I was off. I wasn't that scared about the bike ride, but honestly, it was the hardest part. You really have to push yourself hard on the bike. I was totally blown away by tons of "real" bikers on "real" bikes. When I was pedaling really hard, they would just coast right by me. I learned that in a triathlon, the bikers usually have the best times overall. That is where you can make up the most time. Oh, and the worst part about the biking? The ginormous hill. I mean, this thing was scary going down. People wiped out because they got to going so fast. Then all I could think when I got down was that I had to make it back up. I would say that about 30% of people walked their bikes up this hill. I wanted to so bad because I was barely moving, but I just kept thinking of how proud I would be if I could make it. I pushed and pushed, and my legs BURNED, but I made it. My bike time was an even 1 hour.

Finally, on to the run. I could barely walk after I got off my bike. My legs were truly jello. The first part of the run I felt like I was barely moving and it was uphill. Once I got up that hill, the rest was relatively flat. I feared the run; it is my weakness. I don't really enjoy running and my mind hates it. Physically, I don't feel that bad, but mentally I want to quit the entire time. When I finally got about a mile away from the finish and could see the end, I was completely relieved and pushed my way to the FINISHLINE! My run time was 29 minutes, which completely shocked me. Usually on fresh legs I run it in 30-32 minutes. I was sooooo happy to be done. Dusty and Booker were at the finishline waiting for me, and it was so awesome to have them there.

My overall time was 1 hr, 36 minutes, which I was very pleased with. My goal was 1:40, so I couldn't be happier. I thought by today that I would be back in the motivated, pumped up mode of wanting to do another triathlon, but it hasn't fully hit yet. However, I am very proud of all of us that did this. It is a huge accomplishment and I couldn't have done any of it without them. I'm sure we'll do it again next year.