I am triathlete!

First off, I am officially a Triathlete!!!  This has been a goal of mine for over a year now and I finally had the time to complete one.  

The Tampa Bay Women's Triathlon at Westchase was right up my ally!  The swim was in a pool :)  I am scared of the ocean for now, I hate the sticky feeling and seaweed, 

NO THANK YOU!

This event was a great event!  Everything was well organized and everyone was able to answer all of my questions.  This was my first one so remember, I had a lot of questions, such as, "Do I need a swim cap?", the answer was no! Yay, one less thing to worry about.  The volunteers were great and all things ran smoothly, from a participants perspective.

Luckily, I am off on Fridays and was able to head to pick up my race packet and briefing early in the morning.  I picked everything up for my packet and went into the briefing.  I walked in a few minutes later and there were no seats so I happily sat on the floor attempting to pay attention.  My attention span, not so good when I am hungry.  I did get many questions answers but I was still a little uncertain because of nerves and anxiety. (All I really wanted to do was finish).

I met up with Meghan for lunch at the Hungry Greek, it was delicious and I may become a regular just like her.  She definitely calmed my nerves a bit, thank you :)  I went home, packed my "stuff" and was ready for race day after some Rock of Ages! (Yes, I liked it)

Saturday, my alarm was set for 4:30 to become a triathlete, I grabbed a granola bar and was on my way.  It wasn't crowded when I arrived, I checked in, got marked with my number's which apparently my market thought was "E's", I set up my bike and found Val and Michelle for some pre-tri talking.  This was all of our first races and we were excited, nervous and were just waiting to start!  I also saw Tori  ( and you can read her blog post about it also- She rocks and is training for Augusta 70.3.) and Patrick along with their friend Erika.  

Michelle, Me, Val

Erika, myself, Tori
Picture by Patrick 

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The three of us were all in the last wave, wave 3 so it was very nice to have people to talk to.  Once waves 1 and 2 were out, it was just wave three left.  Let me just start off my saying I am not a quick runner, I take my time and that being said, I was the last one to start meaning, oh I will probably be the last one to finish, and I was A-OK with that.  Once we were off, we were rocking and rollin' a chatted with a few people along the course but was always last until the very end (woohoo).  I managed to finish the 5K in 32:45, but the course was just a bit short I heard as well as saw on my Garmin.  Either way, I would have maintained the same pave for another .25 of a mile so yay for kicking butt on the run.  It was a beautiful course and I am not in love with the Westchase area, this is where I may be looking for jobs in the future as it is so beautiful, I want to live there.  The course was through a neighborhood so there were a lot of turns, but there was NEVER any confusion of where to go.  The volunteers were AMAZING!!! Always cheering us on and pointing us in the right direction.  

Oh HI!! Im last and loving it :)

Next up was the dreaded bike, this was what I was most scared of honestly.  Luckily, the directors had to shorten the ride to 7.25 due to a water main break.  It was a loop that we had to go through twice and I had to go from sidewalk to street to sidewalk and under tunnels.  I was a mess the first loop trying to figure everything out.  People were passing me left and right and I was scared I was going to fall over into the street and grass and get stuck.  I had only been on the bike twice before this race, so turning was not in my vocabulary, and I had to learn quickly.  I think maybe 2 people were behind me at this point, that means I passed once person because I was almost last coming in from the run.  Go ME!!!  It took me 38:13 to get off that stupid bike and I couldn't be more excited.  My butt hurt and so did my legs!! After that, I took my sweet time to the swim.

Help, What am I doing?

Hi, I am still alive!

If you remember all the way from the beginning, I sad the swim was in pool, did I also mention this was a reverse so the swim was last?  I thought that would be a good thing.. Not so sure...After dismounting the bike and practically falling off of it because I do not know how to get off yet, I took my sweet time getting to the pool.  I had to practically disrobe my watch, belt, phone; did I even have it?  my helmet, and everything else I did not want in the pool.  On the way I did some stretching, talked to Michelle, hydrated and finally made myself to the pool "area".  It took me a while to get in the pool as I think it is necessary to talk to everyone, ask them questions, talk to the lady who is telling me to get in the pool so I can maybe..."finish".  Ok, so I am finally in the pool and I was off.  It was 8 back and forths in the pool, I had to go under the ropes which was a little annoying, but hey, I got to push of the wall a little, no complaints from me!  About half way through I was dying, I didn't know if I was going to make it!! Luckily, my friends were there cheering me on and didn't need to embarrass myself by having people come in and get me from drowning.  I finally made it out of the pool to the finish line and collected my new shiny medal; but boy was that rough.  I finished the swim in 5:52 (does that include from the bike to the pool which I thought I should talk to everyone or when i stepped in the pool and took my sweet time?)) I was very happy with that time though!!

Dancing to the finish I was just so happy to be done.

Are you sick of me talking yet?  I think that TRI was torture!  I unfortunately did not train and I learned my lesson, but I did it and that was all I wanted to do.  It was great to have Tori, Patrick, Val, Michelle, and Erin there cheering each other on!!

After a few picture, we made our way back to the car, I swore I wasn't going to do another one, but I sort of want to, especially with a swim first and see the difference.  

On the way to the cars, Tori mentioned I won a prize, I did!  I won a gift certificate to Outspkin in clearwater.  I guess I am going to have to make a trip there and get lots of supplies for the next one!

So Recap: 

This was a great event

Everyone was amazing

I would do this next year

I want to do another

I need to train