Yesterday I participated in my first ever triathlon; which is something I never thought I would ever do. I have run countless races, both short and long but never done a bike and a swim as well; Luckily My great friend Amy told me she was going to do it a couple months ago and I thought, hey why not give it a shot! I wanted to use this year off from competing to try new fitness activities! Well I am looking for my next race now! I had SO MUCH FUN! I love a challenge; both mentally and physically.
A triathlon was/still is very new territory for me; I am used to showing up to a race with myself, my jams, and all in one outfit. But for this race you have to swim first, then transition to ride your bike; hop off the bike and then go for a run! I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO WEAR! I was running around town Saturday collecting what I hoped would suffice; I already had a swim suit, but needed long bike shorts and a top. Luckily with the bike I am using I could just wear my running shoes with it; so that helped! My goggles are also 10 plus years old from when I was a life guard during college…I’ll invest in a new pair….

RACE DAY:
We had to be there super early to put up our bikes and set up our gear so it was a 4:15 am wake up call to get there on time. The race was in Pfluggerville, Texas around Lake Pfluggerville. I was super worried about the swim, I imagined everyone jumping in at once and then getting kicked in the face, but they staggered swimmers to start them. I realized; as I was almost to the swim start, holy shit, it’s been 21 years since I’ve swum competitively, elementary school swim team! Warm lake water plus other swimmers made for what seemed like an eternity in the water; 500 m seems like a lot, but just 11 minutes later I made it back to shore. I had seen people running from the lake to their bikes so of course I wanted to fit in and ran to my bike. I dried off my legs and feet, pulled on these long nike spandex pants and took off on my bike.

I thought I was going super fast, until I heard this whirring behind me;

and on comes someone doing the olympic length on this bike that I see on the Tour de France along with the aerodynamic helmet to match. The dude was barely peddling and going what seemed like twice as fast as me. Well whatever I thought; my bike AND helmet can withstand a car crash! The ride through the Pfluggervile country side was very enjoyable; I forgot that I didn’t have any music to listen to and just worked on going as fast as I could go, and then I passed the 2 mile marker. Damn I thought I was at least 4 or 5 miles in! Oh well, 10 ish more to go!

Other than getting kicked in the face during the swim, the getting off the bike and then running. At the start of the run, you still feel like you are on the bike so my stride was super slow. When I do a race I have a rule; don’t stop, just keep going, no matter how slow I go. As I ran around the lake huffing and puffing I kept the end in sight and put one foot in front of the other until I crossed the finish line.