I think it all stated with me getting certified to teach pilates, and water aerobics... I became a lot more aware of my actual physical fitness, and I wanted to look good, and feel good. Not to mention that if I was going to be an instructor, I wanted to look the part. So I started running. I was really surprised with how quickly I took to running, I could run a lot faster than I thought, and I increased my ability very quickly. Running made me feel powerful. My self confidence started to increase just as quickly as my running abilities! So when we became friends with some new neighbors, and started talking about how she has done sprint triathlons, and how doable they are, and how much she loves them, I started to think that maybe I could do one too! So I set a goal for the new year to complete a sprint triathlon. Actually I had a very specific tri I wanted to do... the Women of Steel in American Fork. Unfortunately, it is a very popular race, and they cut registration off at 500 participants, and I missed it. So I was kind of stumped, but figured I had time to find another one, and maybe it was my excuse to not do it. Well a week or two went by , and this lovely neighbor called me and said that her and her friends wanted to do the Spudman Triathlon in Burley, ID in July. That day was the last day that you could put in to participate, and then it was chosen by lottery so there was a chance that we wouldn't even get chosen. BUT if we did get chosen we would have to do 1 mile swim down the snake river, 24 mile bike ride, and a 10k (6.4 miles) run!!! What the?!?!?! By that time it had been a couple of months since I had even gone out running, I had no bike, and I couldn't swim!! But thanks to peer pressure, and the desire I had to reach my goal, I said yes!! Then I cried or felt sick to my stomach for the next two weeks every time I thought about what I had just agreed too!!! I started training immediately because I knew I needed every minute of the six months I had until the race. About two weeks later we found out for sure that we were drawn, and there was no backing out!
So training has been going well! I thought running boosted my self confidence, training for a triathlon has changed me completely! I never knew I had athletic ability! I have never considered myself a runner, swimmer, or biker.... but let me tell you, I am all three!! :)
So in March I heard about a local sprint triathlon (5k, 10 mile bike, 350 meter swim) and I decided to do it because I thought it would be good experience to at least do a small one, learn how to transition, and also find my weak spots. I knew it would be a good mile marker for me to gauge how I was doing. And it went really well! I finished in 1:16.59, 3 minutes and 1 second faster than I was hoping for :) I beat my running time by 2 minutes, my biking time by 10 minutes, and gained a minute in my swim (which wasn't great, but the pool was packed and was totally crazy!)! But I finished 12th in my age group and 120th out of 360 people. I was super pumped, and am a firm believer that ANYONE can do a triathlon!!!! Here are my pictures... not so great, but whatdaya do???
Waiting for the bell to start the run
transitioning to the swim
running to the pool
Me feeling pretty kick butt afterwards!
