Old College Tri

I have to say I'm pretty proud of Callie Berry, JoDee Woodcock and myself.  It's not that I doubted we could do it, I just didn't know how well we could do on our first "tri."

God was gracious and gave us 50 degree weather this morning and it was magnificent.

The swim was interesting, while we entered the pool one at a time three seconds apart.  I was number 164 and JoDee was number 165.  Callies number was in the 200s so she wasn't up with us at the start :(  Everyone was seated by our estimated swim times.  You were supposed to swim on the right and pass on the left, but people were not very good at following the rules.  This made for an awkward swim where several times I had to actually stop swimming and do a breast stroke amidst my freestyle as not to hit anyone, and a few times I didn't get to flipturn because someone was sitting on the wall.  Because of all this I think the most frustrating thing is that our swim time is not really reflective of what we can do because mine ended up being a bit faster than JoDee's, but we know she is fast than me!

The transition from the pool to the bike was one of the things I was most worried about.  The logistics of getting dried off, making sure my feet were dry, and that water was not dripping all over me.  While I had run through it all in my head over and over, when it actually happened I didn't really think, I just did.  I'm pretty sure I only dried me feet off, not by body.  As I was exiting the transition area, I started to mount my bike about five feet before I was really supposed to.  People began yelling at me, "not yet!"  So with my legs on both sides of the bike I did this awkward walk/run forward to where I could actually mount.  The bike was COLD.  A wet body plus 50 degree weather equals freezing ears.  I might mention here that I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection that hit with it's full effects last night:  splitting head ache, eyeballs feeling as thought they are about to pop out, pressure under my cheek bones, ear ache, soar throat, the whole nine yards!  So as I began the ride, my nose started to run and there was nothing I could do to stop it!  The first six miles seemed to take forever.  We weren't allowed to have any electronics so I could not have my phone on me to tell me my distance and speed.  I kept thinking, "are we every going to get to the turn around!"  Sure enough we did and JoDee was a little ways behind me.  It wasn't very far after that she passed me up.  That girl has some serious leg muscles!  I was also able to give Callie a shout out as I was headed back.  As I returned to the transition area on my bike, Shawn was there yelling us on and let me know JoDee was just a little bit ahead.  Now JoDee, I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty upset with myself that I let you get so far ahead on that bike ;)

As I began my transition from the bike to the run one thing I had not experience in any of my  brick workouts were my fingers not wanting to work.  I found myself having a really hard time tying my shoes!  It was like I couldn't get them to bend.  I think it was a combination of the cold and my squeezing the handles bars too tight on my ride.  After what seemed like ten minutes, I was up and running.  Unless you've ever done a brick there is really know way to explain the feeling in your legs except for noodle-ish.  I could see JoDee way a head, probably half a mile.  I set a goal to catch up with her around the half way point.  It took me a little longer, but I caught her around the second mile.  That last mile was pretty aweful and for a second I wanted to walk, but then I thought about Trent. 

Trent is one of my brother's best friends.  He is a two time IronMan and was in a REALLY bad bike accident several months ago.  He has gone from being THE physical therapist to being IN physical therapy.  At that moment when I wanted to give up I thought about all the hard work Trent is having to do in recovery and that the pain that I was feeling, that I knew would not last any more than ten more minutes, paled in comparison.  So I pushed through and when I entered the stadium and stepped onto the football field, I finished as fast as I could.  I'm sure I looked like I was just jogging, but in my mind I was running like the wind!

Over the past year and a half I've gone from not running since high school to participating in 5K's, one 10K and now a Sprint Tri.  With all I've accomplished over the past year, today I felt most accomplished.  I finish, ran the entire way, and even placed fifth in my age group.

Here's the breakdown of my race results for the 250 swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run...
 
I finished 192nd overall (there were 800+ athletes) and 5th in my age group.  My overall time was 1:18:48.7.  I ranked 2nd in my age group on the swim with a 4:02.3, 11th in my age group on the bike with a 44:10.1, and 8th in my age group on the run with a 27:06.2.

I'd also like to mention here how proud I am of Callie.  The wording on her pump today says it all, "Take that Type I!"  I know her life changed drastically with her diagnosis eight years ago, but she has not let it keep her down.  I take for granted that I can just hop on a bike and ride, jump in the pool and swim, or throw on my shoes and run.  She has to worry about blood sugar levels, insulin, sugar tablets and even has to eat while she rides (something I don't think I could ever logistically do!) Callie you are an inspiration to me of determination and perseverance.  I am so proud to call you friend!

And JoDee, girl I've had so much fun these past several months making up for all the fun we missed out on from not being friends in high school ;) Its so awesome to see who God puts in our paths and at what times in life.  He's put you here for such a time as this.  You've been an encourager and true friend.  Thank you for hanging out with my crazy self! 

I would not have been able to do this without either Callie or JoDee.  Thank you both so much for doing this with me and keeping me honest with my workouts and being amazing friends!