Time Flies

As Craig has pointed out at least five times....I'm overdue for an update. Last week at work was busy...gasp....but not to worry, this week is back to normal. I probably won't have anything to do all week long. The weekend also flew by, as we had more things to do than time in which to do it. Sunday was my first real triathlon. By real...I mean the swim was outside as opposed to my last triathlon where it was laps indoor. I intended to have a few open water swim practices under my belt before race day, but it just didn't happen and I paid dearly for it. I had plans of practicing last Thursday...but didn't get out of work until it was almost dark. I then planned on going out Saturday morning, but when I got there...the children's triathlon was going on and we had a wedding to go to Saturday afternoon, so I was out of luck.

The triathlon was a sprint distance (.25 mile swim, 15+ mile bike and 3.1 mile run). The swim took me about nine minutes according to my watch (12 according to the website, but they didn't time the transition) and was nine minutes of hell. The fact that I finished was actually a surprise to me because the sun was right in my face and I couldn't actually see the beach. Suddenly the person next to me stood up and it was at that point I realized that I survived. The rest of the traithlon was a lot of fun. There were definitely scary parts though. About .25 miles into the bike there was someone passed out with an ambulance coming to get them and closer to the end, a guy right in front of me flipped over his bike after hitting the railroad tracks at a bad angle. That was scary. But there were people in the neighborhoods all over cheering us on and spraying us down with their hoses...and that was awesome. The run was probably the hardest because it was so hot outside. But I still did it in 27 minutes which I was thrilled with. Overall it took 1hr 37 minutes. I'm pretty sure it's going to be my last triathlon of the season as I obviously really need swim practice before doing this again. My goal for the next year is to really focus on strengthening all of my muscles and getting my time under 90 minutes. Here are some pictures:

Waiting for my wave to start:














Standing up and realizing I survived the swim:














Taking off on the bike ride (passed out guy #1 was just right of that stop sign):














Such a lovely form on my run! ;)















And last, but most important, my cheerers:















Overall, it was a really fun experience - I can't wait to go back next year and kick some ass!