On June 27, 2009, I complete my first triathlon in Greenville, SC and I am very proud of myself. I started, very slowly, training back in January. I had to learn to run and learn to swim. We (Jessica and I) trained 5-6 days a week (Kristin joined us a few weeks later after we twisted her arm off) and it turned out to be quite fun training. This tri was a sprint meaning the distances were shorter than other types of triathlons such as internationals and ironmans. My swim was a 300 m swim in a pool, a 9 mile bike ride, and then a 5k ( 3mile) run. Going into this triathlon, I was very nervous about the swim since I had just learned to swim a few months ago. There was no need to worry! I ended up passing the girl in front of me and had to doggy paddle a few times to avoid running into the big bald guy in front of me. ( I couldn't pass him! I was too scared!)
I was looking forward to the bike ride part of the race until I got to Greenville and realized how big their hills are. We have no hills here in the Lowcountry and I have not trained on any hills. Needless to say, I did not sleep much that night because I was really not sure if I would make it through the bike part of this race.(I had forgotten about the swimming at this point). But I hopped on my bike (had a good adrenaline rush since I did not drown in the pool!) and told myself to "Do it!" As you can see in this first picture below, there was a small hill just to get out the parking lot. As I continued on the track, life became quite fun! I approached my first downhill and had my bike going about 33 miles per hour! WoooooHooooooo!! and then I had to go back uphill. By the time I got to the top of the next hill, I was only going about 5 miles per hour and then the whole process started over with the next hill. I was elated when I finished these nine miles of hills!!
This is me coming in on my beautiful red bike, "Hot Tamale". She is my best friend.
The 5K run was great. It was almost totally flat and I ran the whole way. Here I am crossing the finish line!!!!!!
This is a picture of my tri buddies, Kristin, Jessica, and me after the race as we glisten with sweat.
And here we are with my fan club, Jordan and Reagan.
Here is the calf shot. The numbers represent our ages at the end of the year and the letters represent our category.
And Logan was so excited through the whole thing, she fell asleep with a chocolate chip cookie in her hand. Needless to say, she did not see me cross the finish line.
And here I am with my two older babies, Jordan and Reagan!
We went back to the hotel and showered quickly before a big lunch at Chili's. We ended that meal with one of those delicious desserts that they have--that chocolate chip paradise pie one! MMMMMGGGGooooooddddddd!!! While we were driving home, it became really quiet in the back of the car. I was still pumped up from the tri so I just couldn't understand why everyone else was so quiet so I turned around and this is what I saw:
I could say they were snoring and had boogers hanging out of their noses, but then I would be lying. Jessica and Reagan were zonked out!!What a great adventure this tri was and there will be many more to come! Everyone needs to watch out for the three of us next year--We are Team JKA( Jessica, Kristin, & Alice or Just Kickin' A$$!--take your pick!)
