Done

I did it, I finished the triathlon. I am exhausted and overjoyed and so many other emotions that I can hardly process.

Last night, I set some goals for my race. #1 was to finish. #2 was to finish in under 2 hours. #3 was to run the whole 5k (with exception for hills.) I accomplished the first two and came very close to the last one.

I loved the way they set up the swim. We had 8 lanes, so  woman would start at the last lane, swim out and back, then move to the next lane. They started swimmers about every 30 seconds, so a woman also finished every 30 seconds or so. All of the waiting swimmers would cheer every time a swimmer finished and came out of the water. It was cool.

I passed a few people during my first few laps. My friend,  Liz, was my triathlon buddy. Her sister was also competing. I had to book it my last lap so that Liz didn't pass me!

I think the pool at my gym is actually shorter than 25 yards, because this swim felt longer, but I finished in 10 minutes.

The first transition took some time. I wanted to get pretty dry so that I wouldn't have to worry about chafing. It also took a few minutes to find out where to leave my bag.

Eventually, we set out on our bikes. The first portion was downhill, so it was nice. A few red lights lights really slowed us down though. There was a big hill about halfway through, but it made for a nice downhill at the end of the biking portion. I finished the 10 mile ride in 47 minutes.

We were much quicker in the second transition. I did text my neighbor and friend so they could be there when I finished. I was surprised then to see my neighbors cheering me on at the beginning of the running course! I was really excited to see them and it really lifted my spirits.

Liz really pushed me on the run. We lost her sister after about 1/2 a mile. Liz also had an app on her phone to track our distance and pace. We were both surprised to know that we had run a 9:22 mile!

There were a few hills that we walked and we slowed down a bit at the end, but still finished at just under 31 minutes, exactly the 10 minute/mile paced I had hoped to achieve.

My neighbors, friends and kids were waiting at the finish line. Liam had a small fit when he didn't get to run with me, so we did a small lap together. He keeps saying that he's going to try really hard at his swimming lessons so that he can do a triathlon, too. He also keeps asking if I won. As far as I am concerned,  I did.