Mark had class, so he couldn't go down with me. Diane was kind enough to accompany me and be my official cheerleader and photographer. Thanks for your support Di!
First off, I was super emotional this weekend. And so scared to do this race. The triathlon fear had set in. Someone would kick me in the head in the swim. I wouldn't have enough energy to complete it. I would run out of water. All sorts of crazy thoughts came into my head. I was really on the verge of tears for 2 days straight just thinking about it.
The night before the race we went and checked in. Di accidentally ate the volunteers food. I went to go get marked and the guy said "Let's see. Athena heat?" Why, yes. I am an Athena thank you very much (to be in the Athena heat you have to weigh at least 150 pounds). Awesome. Those marks started rubbing off right away.
The morning of the race finally came. I kept thinking I should've trained more. But it's just a sprint triathlon. I can swim a half mile. I can easily bike 12 miles. I can run 3 miles. All together though is another question.
When we got there, the race was already underway and we had no idea where to go. We finally found a spot to put up our bikes and set up our stuff for transitions. After squeezing into our wetsuits we headed down to the water. I had hoped to get a warmup in of a few minutes, but we ran out of time. That's ok. I know how to swim. I've improved so much in the last few months. Turns out open water swimming is a whole different world than lap swimming. You can't see anything! You can't swim normally and still see where you're going. There are people around you everywhere. I accidentally punched a girl in the back of the head. She came up under my hand though. She yelled at me. Oh well. I said sorry and kept swimming. Nothing I could do. She came under me. Cancels out. :)
My confidence seriously dropped during this swim. It was so hard. I'm not sure what made it so difficult to breathe, but I was having an extremely hard time. The water was freezing, which I think was the biggest problem. I'm not sure my wetsuit fit correctly either and I hated having it on! In the end I did a lot of backstroke and a ridiculous freestyle with my head out of water. I just panicked every time I tried to swim normally. Overall I bet I only had my head in the water for no more than 2 minutes of the swim.
Transition 1- I should dry myself off. Actually, who cares. Let's race. Bike shoes on. Tried to ride out of the transition area. Didn't know I wasn't supposed to. Finally off. I can do this. Biking is my favorite. I approached a tent with a sign that said sprint turnaround. Yes! That was easy. I went way faster than I thought. Wait. That's the run turnaround. Talk about disappointment. I still had four times that length to go before I could turn around. There was actually a big hill on the course (so glad Liz drove through the course the night before) and it kicked my butt. There were many people who got off their bikes and walked all the way up it. Not me though. I can do hard things. That really was a hard hill.
Many miles later I was coming in to the transition area again. Looking for Di, my support. It's weird, but that helped SO much. I got a burst of energy after every time I got encouraging words from people I knew. My friend Liz who was right behind me started running the wrong way and I got all confused. We found the right way and I was off. Not very fast though mind you. Running is quite difficult for me.
I could see the tent where I would be able to turn around. Once I get there, I'm almost done. Running, walking, running, almost to the tent. Mile 1. What!?!?!? No. I thought it was the turnaround. I still had 1/2 mile to go...uphill. Shouldn't have been too hard, but it was. Coming back that last mile and a half was such a relief. Almost done with this miserable experience. Why do people like to do this? How am I EVER going to do an Olympic length? My friend Mike from my triathlon class was close to the finish and cheered me on. I was renewed! I came up the last little hill and broke into as much of a sprint as I could handle. There was Di with our new friends cheering me on...I can do it! Finally crossed that Finish line. The pain was over. I could finally rest.
I went and found Di. She gave me a hug and asked how it was. And then the tears came. It was so hard. I did not expect it to be that hard. I had been training now for over 4 months. And it was still that hard. I think the biggest problem was the swim...not only because it was so difficult to breathe but also because it shot my confidence. I felt physically and mentally weak after getting out of the water.
Now that it's Monday and exactly 2 days since I finished the race, I can say that it was an enjoyable experience. I would be happy to do it again. Good thing too because I have already purchased my spot in the Spudman in July. I will have to devote myself to training even more now that I know how hard it really is. Looking forward to it. :)
For anyone considering doing a triathlon, I'd say go for it! It was fun. I enjoyed the training and am so very proud of myself for actually doing it!
You go, Team Brooke!
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