Diary of a new triathlete :)

On June 19th, Rachel and I completed our first triathlon!! I can't believe it's over, after 8 months of training. I am so thankful for everyone who has been supporting, pushing, and encouraging me during this. I couldn't have done it without you all! Here's a play by play from that day:

1) The swim-400 yards

We went for a practice swim in the lake a week or so ago. After doing that, I wasn't too worried about it. Right before the race, I was more nervous than I had ever been, about anything. I had been practice with 4 strokes between every breath. When I got out there, the water was so choppy and there were so many people, I couldn't get into a rhythm with my breathing. I panicked a little bit and reverted back to 3 strokes. Every once in awhile I just kept my head out of the water to get some extra air. I can swim 3 times that length in a pool, without any problems. It is so different in the open water. The swim leg took us about 10-15 minutes(not exactly sure) It seems like it went by quickly. The picture came out dark...but it was as cold as it looks. We were all expecting really, really warm weather. Turned out the water was warmer than the air!

2) The bike-11 miles

After swimming, we ran to the transition area to dry off and change into our other clothes. It seems like it took forever, but we were out of there pretty quickly. Biking has been my strongest leg of the triathlon. Last week my body was tired, and I had a horrible bike ride. It dropped my confidence level a little, so I wasn't sure how I'd do. As soon as you get on the bike, you go straight up a hill. It wasn't too bad. For the first few miles we had a tail wind. For the other 8, there was a head wind. We fought through it, and it wasn't too bad! There was one other hill, but other than that, we were riding down the road at an average of 15 mph. We finished the biking leg in 45 minutes, a new record for us!

3) The run-3.1 miles

The transition from biking to running was much easier. We just set our bikes down, shook the jello feeling out of our legs and we were off! I thought the run would be the worst part for me, but it was actually my favorite part. The trail was hilly and definitely more difficult than anything we had run before, but it was fun. Rachel and I ran together and kept each other company, talking about random things. At this point, my body was feeling some pain, and the talking is what kept me going! When I was running, I just kept thinking about everything I had done to get to this point. Rachel and I remembered all the times when 3 minutes of running would kill us. The run took us about 40 minutes.

4)The Finish:

At the end, Rachel and sprinted to the finish line with a time of 1 hour and 40 minutes!!! My goal was 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I was beyond estatic to beat that goal time!(Subtract 15 minutes from the clock, there were 3 waves of people that went before us) I just remember thinking, "wow, my body doesn't even hurt that much!" haha. I was excited to be done and was thankful that I had my mom and friends to share it with! Check out this video that Bobby got of us crossing the finish line!
This picture is of Doris, Ulli, me and Rachel. Ulli is the principal of my school and Doris works there, as well. They have done a triathlon before, but it was so fun to do it with them!
Laura and Erin my 2 awesome friends who made the trek to Pleasanton in the early morning hours!
I'm super proud of our accomplishment and what it has taken to get here! I had to put aside a lot of my life for training, but it was worth it. The feeling you have when you make it across the finish line, is like nothing I have ever experienced. That being said, I'm ready for the next one! I really want to do a competitive(timed) triathlon. I'm planning on doing this triathlon in Pacific Grove. I know...it's an ocean swim, scary! I am still deciding if I am going to do the Sprint distance or the Olympic distance. I'm leaning toward the Olympic. After that I will probably just do 1 triathlon per season. I like having a goal, so that I can keep in shape!

After a long nap and a shower, my mom and I headed to San Francisco for Wicked. I had already seen it, but it was a nice reward! We had the most amazing dinner and I loved Wicked even more, the 2nd time! Thanks for reading. :)