the luray international triathlon!

**don't miss rebekah's birthday party on the previous post! :-)

i had 4 goals in this triathlon:
1) to finish
2) to finish with a smile on my face and feel "strong"
3) to not come in last place
4) to never stop (swimming, biking or running...to never walk on the run, etc.)

i slept good last night. i wasn't expecting that.
fell asleep around 10 pm (got in bed shortly at 9 pm!) and slept HARD til 2:30 am.
then tossed and turned til 4 am when i got up.
got dressed, filled my water bottles, made my bagel with peanut butter and waited in front of my house in the pitch black early morning for annie to come by and pick me up.

i rode there with annie, catherine and susan. they all live in my neighborhood.
i run with annie and catherine.
susan organized the kids' triathlon earlier this summer and we have kids similar ages (her daughter was at rebekah's party last night!)

the sky got lighter and lighter as we drove.
we talked non-stop...mostly NOT about the triathlon and i tried my best not to think about it. when i did, i wanted to throw up.

we got there exactly when we planned on...6:30 am (the race started at 8 am).
we got our packets and chips (to wear...not to eat :-))
set up our transition areas
i went to the bathroom at least 4 times.
the race was VERY well organized!

then, about 7:30 we headed down to the lake area.
and i do mean DOWN...you'll see what i mean later.

pat and the kids drove the 2 hours to cheer me on, too!
i saw them RIGHT before the race started...that helped me a lot.
i was SO SO SO nervous about the swim.

catherine and i right before we start!

there was a lot of confusion about what the yellow and orange buoys in the water meant...which way to go...etc.

which added to my anxiety. but, really, i just followed everyone else! :-)

heading down (sucking up some pride here showing my rearend in a BATHING SUIT!)

in the water...i stayed towards the back so i wasn't on top of people...and so they weren't swimming over me!

here we go!
i was fine for the first 2 minutes.
then i panicked for a few minutes.
once we got around the first buoy i calmed down and was fine...even GOOD for the rest of the swim!

isn't the scenery gorgeous??

the conditions were PERFECT.
it was about 70 degrees when we started and 80 degrees when we finished.
mostly overcast but the sun came out towards the end.
the water temp was 80 degrees.


coming out of the water!
DONE with the swim!

i really couldn't believe i had DONE it and actually felt pretty STRONG during it!

here's what i mean by we went "down" to the lake...see those LONG stairs?? we had to run UP them to get to our bikes!

the bike part KILLED me.
i really wanted to QUIT.
there were SO many hills.
and BIG ones.
and even when it didn't look like a hill...it felt like a hill.
it was 25.8 miles of hills and it was HARD.
really hard.
took a LOT of mental energy to get through it for me.

i was so glad to be coming in on the bike and be done with it!

AND so glad to see pat and my 4 sweet kids cheering me on!
they waited so patiently for me while i biked for like 10 hours!

i didn't rush through the transitions.
i took time to to drink and take deep breaths.

headed out on the run.
i just couldn't believe i was to this point!

the run was also super hilly.
but i saw the ladies i had come with on it (they were all ahead of me)
and there were more spectators.

it was hard.
but i just kept telling myself, "you can run 6 miles. you've done it TONS of times. just keep going."

i never walked.
sometimes i was maybe "running" as fast as the people that were walking :-)
but i never walked.

i had quite the cheering squad as i finished...annie, catherine and susan were SCREAMING my name. i could hear them before i could see them.

and pat and the kids were there cheering and taking pictures, too!

man, i was SO SO glad to be finished!!!!!

is that a look of relief or what??

and i reached all 4 of my goals!
i finished...with a smile on my face...i wasn't last...and i never walked!


i'm pretty sure the first words i said to pat were, "don't EVER let me do that again."

me, catherine, susan and annie.
they each ROCKED this triathlon.
and i so enjoyed doing it alongside (well, slightly behind...) them!

and remi (another friend from the neighborhood that i run with) left these on catherine's front step last night...YUMMY cake for after the race! i started getting the spots in my eyes on the drive home (the start of a migraine) and downed the cake and lots of water and advil and was able to fend it off! thanks, remi!!!

when i got home i took the BEST shower ever (there was definitely lots of black and "green-ish" things all over my body under my suit from the lake...EWWW!)

then a nice nap.

then we went to Foster's for dinner. it wasn't my plan. but the kids were driving me CRAZY...arguing, etc. and i just knew that taking them to the restaurant i really wanted to go to would backfire and it would be awful. so, a big burger and a diet coke sitting outside at a shopping center right around the corner was the back-up plan. and it's fine. it's life. it's MY life. the love and support i felt from them (and EVERYONE!) today was way more special than a specific restaurant!

and, just for the record...i peed about 7:30 am this morning...and didn't pee again til 7 pm! that's CRAZY! i was drinking ALL DAY!

it was quite the experience.
it was months...made up by hour after hour of training.
lots of time and sacrifice of other things to get to this point.

i don't know my exact time yet.
they haven't posted it.
i think it was around 3:40...according to pat's estimation...but i'll post the splits when i know them!

i'm glad i did it.
it's quite the accomplishment.
but i'm really not thinking i'll do another one...at least for quite awhile...

looking forward to the freedom to do whatever i want for exercise! and not feel like i HAVE to swim or bike so much!