Welcome to my new addiction!

I did my first triathlon this weekend and I am totally in love with this sport. It was a mix of everything that I love all wrapped up in one. The beauty of the tri is that when you start getting sick of one element it is usually time to switch to the next element.

The first section is the swim and it was a distance of 250 meters. I was not excited about this at all as I just learned to swim 8 weeks ago. I managed to do 25 meters freestyle and then I rolled on to my back and did the back stroke the rest of the way. Better to be warmed up when you get out of the pool than dead tired. I didn't drown and I think I might have passed a couple of people. Thanks go to my friend Tanna who followed me lane by lane and kept me focused.

The next was the bike and it was a beating for me. Lots of hills and a cold north wind in my face all the way for the first 8 miles. Did I mention that I just got out of the pool and jumped on my bike and was still wet. It was 45 degrees no less! Not fun!

The final leg was the run and it was tough getting my legs going from being on the bike. I did a combo walk/run and by this time I had totally checked out mentally. I was just ready to get done. Thanks to my sweet friend Erin who taught me to swim and ended up running with me for the last 200 yards or so.

All in all this was a wonderful experience. I am pumped and can't wait for the spring so that I can tackle another one. I will train harder because I know in my heart that I didn't train as I should have for this one. I know that I can get to where I can swim freestyle the entire distance, I know that I can get that bike moving faster, and I know that I can run faster. Some things you just know and I know I can do better.

I would like to thank my sweet beloved Joe for getting up with me at 4 AM and for lugging my stuff uphill and for videoing and photographing this special day. He was such a sport and I know that he could so train and so do one of these events as well.

I only had one negative thing and I feel the need to write about it. I arrived at 5:30 and was the 3rd person in the transition area racking my bike. I wanted to be on the end so that I could have plenty of room to change shoes, etc. So I wanted to give a shout out to the jerk jacka** rider number 186 who moved my bike over and planted his bike and back wheel right in the middle of my gear. You know buddy I could so totally report your cocky a**, but I won't because I believe what comes around goes around. If you chose to treat people with disrespect like that then you deserve what you get in life. Just walking around acting like that is punishment enough. Just be glad my big redneck husband wasn't able to get in the transition area near your bike, because trust me you would not have been able to recognize it when he was done with it! Just sayin'!!!

Show up and make it count!