TriathMom

My name is Ada, and I am officially a Triathlete!
Race day was overcast in the seventies. Had a dream just before the alarm went off that I was late, and having to rush Fiona & Gary to get going before the transition area closed.
My first race was a reverse sprint distance triathlon (5k run, 15.5mi bike, 350yd swim). Normally tri's are swim/bike/run, this was run/bike/swim...something I only discovered a week before the race, a fact that also sent me into a bit of tailspin regarding my preparation. But, with a lot of visualization and practice for transitions, I felt much more comfortable with the idea.
Prepped everything Saturday night, got my bag ready, my number in order, visualized an attack.

Race morning, woke up before the alarm with the aforementioned semi-nightmare. Up and eating almost immediately so as to enusure plenty of time between eating & running. Yoga out front 'cause it was certainly warm enough, and I'm trying to keep calm. The hummidity was pretty high, a cold front came in later that day and so we had all the humidity & warmth that preceeds said cold front that morning. Dressed, woke Gary, piled in the car w/ bike on the back. Arrived on scene, athletes milling about setting up transitions, laughing, they're definitely less nervous than me. Saw some kids there, I joked to one that I bet I was more nervous than he was. Dry heaved a couple of times, but didn't vomit--a bonus 'cause I needed to keep the food down for energy purposes. Got the bike checked out, got my body marked 539. After a stuttered conversation with a staffer, figured it's better I just don't talk to too many people 'cause I just sound like an idiot. Wander about some, try to keep warmed up, said hi again to The Man & The Child, seemed like hanging around them the anxiety intensified, so, back to registration. Picked up timing chip, very important, don't forget to pick up timing chip. Then there was a meeting about rules & regs, the USAT guys said a few things, and then it was time to begin. They didn't have a gun or air-horn, so it was a "1...2...3...GO" start. I thought it was cute.

RUN; went fine, I've never thought running was really that much fun and I guess I find it still more a chore than anything, although my endurance has most definitely improved. Got bored toward the end, couldn't wait to get on the bike. 33m 13s
T1: 1m 46s dropped my sunglasses at one point
BIKE; started kick ass, then heart rate when too far up, backed off, tried to stay comfortable, passed a handful of people or more. Should have had more water, humidity was more than usual and felt a headache sneaking in the background too early on. The ride was nice, wet road in some areas, I saw one woman busted up in an intersection, pretty sure she finished though. 1h 9m 28s
T2: 52s easy, strip off everything, pop in earplugs, jog to pool
SWIM; felt fine until the staffer said, "GO". Strokes were relaxed & even, then my breathing went awry and I had to be on my back for 25 yds or so. Freestyle was definitely easier though and I made it all the way, only one person passed me, and I passed one person. At that point in the race there weren't too many people left in the pool. 9m 49s
THEN jog to the finish line, at this point my body started to revolt, sounded like "you want me to WHAT? No way, uh-uh, no more, you're DONE." So I'm searching for the finish line...funny I never saw it until just before I crossed it, I mean it IS A HUGE BLOWN UP GREEN ARCH, jeaz, Ada! (I've learned that part of the challenge for a reverse is using the lower muscles a whole bunch then suddenly switching to upper/full body for a while.)
TOTAL TIME 1h 55m 07s

Gary said the only time I looked as if I was rattled was after the pool on the way to finishing. Well, like I said, the mind had to completely ignore the lamentations of the lungs & legs for long enough to get out there. He said, he was yelling, "SMILE THEY'RE TAKIN' YOUR PICTURE", I vaguely remember hearing that, but I was too involved with getting FINISHED at that point.
And so I became a triathlete.


Links for race results & photos:
http://www.doitsports.com/groups/results/timers-calendar.tcl?group_id=91
click on tri age group OR overall
http://www.partypics.com/ver2/EventImages.aspx?EventID=580301
I'm in there but it's kinda hard to sift through the picks, they don't have finish line pics yet.