My First Triathlon

 Every year the City of Longmont has a Triathlon weekend and every year I watch it our my windows, but this year that all changed.Saturday morning after we got the Bryce's started on their journey back to Texas Kitt and I went across the street to check-in and pick up our stuff for our first ever triathlon. After we got our numbers and shirts we walked back home to eat breakfast and get ready. I was to antsy for my own good. I for some reason have this phobia if I show up late to something like that even if it is by just a minute or two they wont let me participate anymore. I know this might be the case somewhere, but not at this event. Anyway, I was pretty nervous so I didn't eat a huge breakfast which is good, but then I ate fast so I was the first one done and really had to try so hard to wait, but I stink at that, so I think everyone else was a little more hurried then they wanted to be. After breakfast, we got dressed and got towels, water, shoes, helmets, and stuff like that together and headed over. We setup our transition right next to each other and pretended like we kind of knew what we were doing, but really just copied what everyone else had done.

After that we went up by the pool patio to wait. Kitt took full advantage of this time and I got a massage. I am not a huge massage person to begin with and am even less so when I am anxious, so I just watched and moved around. Moving is way more comforting to me than a massage, although I should have tried it, just to see what it was like. Oh well. Partway through Kitt's massage; Kylee, Tia, and Guapo came and found us and Tia was super interested in what was going on with Aunt Kitt. Eventually the massage ended and we were waiting some more. We did go use the restroom and watch the last few heats of the kids triathlon. Those little guys are super impressive. The way they roll front to back and then back to front and kept going was awesome. I am amazed by though kids.

Finally the last kids were out of the water and it was our turn. First they lined us up by number, which was our approximate time we said it would take us, but then we kind of moved around a little bit more to let in late registers, and Kitt and I moved a little bit ahead of where we were because we thought we were a little faster than 10 minutes. After everyone was all lined up, we get our time tracking anklets. They totally remind of the ankle tracking devices people have to wear for house arrest and stuff. Luckily ours were blue so it felt a little less like that. Anyway, we talk to the people around us and enjoy our time getting up to the pool. Kitt went in first and once she had done her first length I was in. I have been working on my swimming and it totally paid off. I ended up passing Kitt before then. When I finished snaking the 8 lengths through the pool, I climbed out and gave my girls high fives waited a brief second for Kitt and then ran out the door for the bike portion.

Look close Kitt is in grey at the edge, and I am right behind her.

Kitt is at the side, and I am closing in behind her in the third lane.

Me taking my goggles off. A very flattering picture.

Kitt High 5ing the girls.

AUGHHH!! The bike was awful. I got passed by so many people and I could never catch up to anyone. Then to make matters worse I didn't feel like there was a thing I could do about it. I literally was pedaling all the time and it wasn't making any difference. Oh man, I was so frustrated and at that point I was seriously like "Triathlons are so dumb! Why would anyone think this is fun?" Finally, I finished that slow ordeal and got to the running portion.

Me on my bike, and trying to go fast.

Kitt riding her bike.

When I first got off my bike, my legs so did not want to function right. They were kind of like what the heck! Luckily they figured it out and I got to running. I did pretty good, I finally got Kitt in my sights again, but she was running like a champ. When she passed me after getting to the turn around point she splashed a cup of water on me. In blind revenge I carried a cup all the way back to get her back with. My hope was to catch up to her and get her from behind, but she had just gotten too far ahead. Oh well, I still got her at the finish line. Anyway, the run went good, I probably should have tried to run faster, but you know it was just good to run and it was the perfect weather for it and hey its all good.

Kitt starting the run.

Me starting the run.

Me trying to finish the run.

Obviously I finished the race after Kitt, but according to the results I only lost by 6 seconds. As we crossed the line they took the ankle tracking off, and gave me a finisher metal. just for information I got 34 overall, and total time was 44:10. The swim, bike, run times were 4:52, 24:41, and 11:09. Then I got some water and we sat down for a bit. Once I had rested for a bit I wandered over to the pizza and yogurt handout and got me some of that goodness. Oh man the pizza was so good. It was like the perfect treat after a race like that. My girls wanted pizza and yogurt too, so I went and got them some. Then we visited on the lawn for a bit more and got a free shaved ice for finishing the race. Finally, they completed all the awards and stuff and were starting to take things down. They looked like they had a ton of pizza, so after some encouragement I went and asked them if I could have a whole box of pizza which they gladly gave me. Then we took our stuff and went home.

I am so glad I did the tri-a-try. It really was fun. It was like the perfect length because I didn't really have time to train for it, plus it is totally do able. Also, the people that were in it were super nice and fun to be around. It was so great to have Kitt to do it with me. I loved doing it and hope I get to do it again. I don't know if I will try more of a triathlon anytime soon, because I like doable and fun, but this is a good one and I totally loved it and am so glad I did it. Special thanks to Gaupo and the girls for cheering me on the whole time and for Kitt pushing me the whole way.

Here we are after we are all done. We are awesome!