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My First
Triathlon!
by
freddy
On August 31 I
officially became a triathlete. With a big day ahead of me I went to bed early
the night before. I woke up at 4:45 am. I was full of energy and ready to go. I
took in my pre-race meal a bagel and an apple and some gatorade.
The bike
stalls were first come first serve so I made sure to get there early so I had my
pick. I contemplated my stall strategy and decided that it was best to have
mine close to the exit to the bike course. This way I was close to leave and
close when I returned. This strategy worked well. Next I went to get my racing
numbers marked on my body and set up my transition area. By this time it was
time to test the water and wait to go.
The pre-race meeting ended and I got in
the water. To my surprise the water was like bath water. I was happy to be
swimming in warm water for once. I took my mark and the gun sounded. We were
off and, boy, is a swim start crazy! I was hit multiple times, but never
hard enough to brake my stride. I kept going. At one point at the very
beginning when everything was still crazy I thought to my self, " What am I
doing here." The feeling subsided when I was one of the first 50 in a heat
of over 150 to exit the water.
I exited
the .6 mile swim with a time of about 16:00. I hustled to my bike and I was
off. The bike was fun because the course had great scenery. I felt great on
my bike and turned in the 14 mile bike in under 45 minutes. I know that I
lost a good bit of time because I had a mountain bike and not a road bike. I
was however very pleased. I took a little more time in the transition area
to take in some liquids, but I was off relatively quick. It was time for,
what I thought, was going to be my favorite part of the race. WRONG! The guy
I trained with sometimes told me that the course was flat. It really was
not. I ran about 3.5 consistently, but then my lower back started hurting
and I slowed to a walk, but not for long. I was running again in no time,
slower than before but running none the less. As I got closer to the finish
line I heard the crowd cheering and that gave me an energy boast. I crossed
the line sprinting. It felt good to cross that line. I was by far the most
amazing feeling. All the sacrifices had paid off. My total time was 2:07 to
finish a .6 mile swim, 14 mile bike, and 5 mile run. Overall I was 343 out
of 750 or so racers. I love tri's and will continue to tri over and over
again.
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