I know I'm way behind, but I promised a blog about the Triathlon, and a special musical number by my very talented sister! So, here they are:
It was so fun, and soo hard!! We had been training quite a bit, or so I thought, but it turns out that no matter how easy it is to run 3 miles, bike ride 14 miles, and swim 1/2 a mile, it is WAY harder to to them all at once with no time to catch your breath!
Well, Saturday morning came, and after a "power breakfast", we were on the road to Ririe Reservoir. We got there and we got to set up our transition area, which is where you keep your bike, shoes, towels, change of clothes, etc.
At 8 o'clock, the race began! The first event was the swim. Now they had told us that if you know you are a slow swimmer to just wait for everyone else to go before diving in, or in my case, sliding off the dock gently to avoid the terror of jumping into the water. So, off we went....what felt like 10 minutes later, I looked up to see that I was barely passing the first buoy, only about 30 yards away!! Needless to say, the swimming was my worst event! I kept swimming till I felt like I needed to catch my breath, then I flipped over to backstroke for a while. What I didn't realize was that it is much different to swim in open water than it is to swim in a pool, so about 2 minutes later, I looked up and realized that I had shifted directions and was swimming out toward the middle of the reservoir, perpendicular to the direction everyone else was swimming! By now I was the LAST person!! I couldn't believe it! I flipped over and started swimming my little heart out to catch up with everyone else! Also, by this time the "lifeguard" canoe had noticed me and was coming towards me asking if I was ok, I told them I was fine, but they kept a close watch on me the rest of the swim.
Well, I figured that the triathlon would be like the marathon Tyler ran in, where there were "old ladies" just walking, trying to just complete it. However, as I swam to catch up with everyone else, I wondered where those old ladies were that I could beat. Why wasn't there anyone here who was just doing this for fun, like me? It was about half way through the swim that I figured out the answer. I realized that nobody would be stupid enough to say, I'll just go swim as far as I can out into a lake, and just hope I have the energy to get back! This was the same time that I realized I had NOT prepared nearly as much as I should have! The only way I could keep myself moving was by singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and of course, I never got on my back again!
Anyways, I did eventually finish the swim, and I wasn't the last person! As you run out of the water there are "strippers" in the runway who help pull your wet-suit off of you. After they YANKED mine off, I ran to put my bike shorts and shoes on and get on with the ride! As I was running up the grass with my bike, GASPING for air, I couldn't believe that I was actually supposed to get on it and start riding 14 miles without ever catching my breath! The first thing we did when we started the bike ride was a ridiculous hill!
It was seriously about a mile long, at an 11% grade, that's really STEEP! After that, the ride was rolling hills, but I was just so excited to finally be passing people!
At last, the time came to start the 3 mile run. I was so exhausted, but I knew I was so close to finishing! I quickly found out that, like the ride, this was all hills too!
And half of it was trail running! Yikes! Leesa, I have a new found respect for you...trail running if HARD! I was still pretty paranoid about my ankle (I had sprained it while rock climbing the week before), so I practically walked on the downhill. I was not about to fall and break my ankle when I was so close to the end!
Finally, I reached the FINISH LINE!
While I was doing it, I kept thinking, "There is no way I will ever do that again!!" but now I kinda want to do some more!! All-in-all, it was a very fun day!! and Tyler and I felt cool as we wore our matching Triathlon shirts around for the next three days!
Next: Alyssa's performance of SHY BOY (by Katie Melua). Not only is she a good singer, she's also a great actress! Enjoy!!
