First Triathlon, TriathaMOM

I have wanted to do a triathlon for a couple of years now.  The only reason I have not is I had the excuse of not having a bike.  Well, for my birthday I got a bike.  So that excuse was gone.  The only hold up was the swim.  I never took swimming lessons growing up.  I don’t even know how to really swim well.  But I can do well enough to stay a float and “look” like I kind of have an idea.  So I put it off long enough and took the plunge and signed up.  That always makes you have a deadline!  I went down to Springville City Pool down the road only 4x’s to practice.  A few times when the alarm clock went off at 5 am I just could not get myself out of bed!  I felt silly at the pool trying to figure out how to breathe correctly and not get winded on just one lap down the pool.  Swimming is so different than running!  By the time the race came around though I felt ready.

Chuck and Carol were in town and I was glad that they got to see me race!  We started off at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center Pool.  We lined up according to our race speed time of 300 meters.  I was in the intermediate group.  I passed 2 swimmers and no one passed me.  I did turn on my back to float a couple of times to rest. 

Once I got done with that I ran over to the transition area. I dried off, put on my socks and shoes, helmet and sunglasses and I was off on the bike.  The bike ride was 10 1/2 miles.  I really enjoyed that course  Some of it went along the new bike corridor that was not there when we lived in West Jordan.  It is really nice not to have to worry about traffic on that busy road.  I had 2 ladies pass me on their bike and then I ended up passing them.  I was just glad that my nightmare of getting a flat tire on the course did NOT come true!

When it came time for the run I was pretty tired.  It was mentally tough to keep going.  There were a lot of walkers at this point!  I had 1 lady pass me on the run.  As much as I told myself that this was all for fun, the experience I can not let the competitiveness out of me.  I have to push harder to pass the next person or not stop because I don’t want to feel like I could have gone harder.  But that is why I loved it so much I think.  I did my best and was happy with that.  I don’t think I could have done anything more for the amount of (or less) training I did.

I feel bad for David that he is the one taking care of the kids while I am out having all the fun on these races.  He of course let me know he loved being there watching me race.  He did say that this was one of the more fun and relaxing ones because the kids had so much fun at the carnival while I was out!  Faces painted, cotton candy, sign making, bounce houses, popcorn, the playground!  So fun for them.  One of the main reasons I chose this race was so the kids would have a fun time too!

 

My final finish time was 1 hour 15 mins and 48.7 seconds.  My swim time was 8:50, the bike was 40:10, and the run was 26:50.  I finished 4th in my age group of 30-34 yr olds out of 84 and 14th overall of 300 participants.  I was super happy with that!  I would love to do this race again, with other moms!  This is the first year that I am sad to put away my racing shoes.  I have had so much fun training and accomplishing these goals.  But it is my turn to watch my kids in games on Saturdays!  Until next year when I set more goals and accomplish more than I ever thought I could do just a couple of years ago.  Amazing what the body can do when you set your mind to it!