Triathlon!

Yep, today was the big day. I ran out of training motivation about 2 weeks ago. That's when Dan kicked up his training and started doing some pretty intense workouts. I looked for every possible excuse to stay in the house and not ride the bike or swim. It was rough. Today still arrived and we both participated in the New Bern YMCA's first ever triathlon.

And now..... the very detailed sequence of events....!

We left the house at 7am and got to the YMCA with plenty of time. We set up our bikes, got our timing chips, got a big black number written on both arms and both legs. To make it more fun, they also wrote your AGE on the back of your right calf. For some reason, they bump your age up depending on your birthday. So my leg (still!) got a 34 on it, although my birthday isn't for another month. Vanity, thy name be Rebecca!

They started the swim at 8am and sent swimmers off at 15 second intervals. I didn't register early enough to get plced by our swim time. that sucked. We were 120 and 121 and by the time Dan and I got to swim (at 8:33:45 and 8:34:00) , there were plenty of sucky swimmers in the water clogging up the works. I think I passed 5 people, and that wasn't easy- it was a 25 meter pool with regular lane lines and not much room to pass. It wasn't a great swim for me. The 8 laps vs 4 messed me up too. Even thought the pool was half the size, having to swim more laps threw me off.

I got out of the pool behind a large slow man who walked half the last lap in the POOL, and passed him on the sprint out to the bike. Dan was ahead of me, but I passed him in the transition- he thinks he has to be all dry before he gets on the bike. hee hee hee. It took him 2 miles to bike past me. I passed 3 people- which is huge for me! I never pass anyone on the bike! I felt all slow on my big ole mountain bike with its giant tires. But I kept going and it was okay that the super fast people with their racing bikes and aerodynamic (and silly looking) helmets zoomed by. It was fun though. Nice scenery, except for when we were on main roads. I didn't like being that close to traffic, but they did a great job with traffic control and police at every major intersection. So I felt pretty good about it.

Then the run. I know it takes at least 1/2 a mile before my calves quit cramping. Mentally it was hard because I didn't know how far I'd come and how much further there was to go. I thought I was so hot- I passed a slow lady and a walking man. Whoo-hoo! I never pass anyone on the run, usually. So I felt great! And reeeeaaly tired. My goal was to finish and to never walk. I just ran slow! And in the last half mile, there were 3 people in front of me. I like to sprint the end. That's my thing. So I stepped it up and the 3 in front of me didn't. I actually passed all 3 people at the end! Whoo0-hoo for me! I sprinted in and it was further than I thought- they had 2 big tents and I thought the first one was the end, but it wasn't. I had another 20 yards. Oops. So I had to sprint some more and it nearly killed me.

The coolest thing is that Dan and I both finished 20 minutes fastr than last year. Granted, it is a different course, and the distances may be a lot more different than they'll admit, but it sure makes us feel good! So, here are pictures from our glorious day!

Here is my shirt. I think our printer doesn't do good iron ons. I was afraid to wash it before wearing it, because that fades the pictures a little, and I had trouble getting good pictures. So the pictures bled from all my sweat! Lovely!

Here we are, all excited before the race. Dan was # 120, and I was #121. That was the order we registered in, not how fast we were. My Dan is pretty fast, I'll have you know!

Here is my glorious sprint for the end, and you can see me kicking butt on these slow-pokes. ha ha ha...

Here I am, after the race, flexing my number for the camera. I am triumphant; I am finished; I am happy!