Race Report

The Olympic Triathlon

 1.5km Swim / 40km Bike / 10km Run 

~~~

It seems as though I can be full of a lot of hot air here on this blog.

It WAS all in my head. 

It was.

But....it took a lot of effort in the legs, arms, and lungs department too....

~~~~

Sunday morning was beautiful.

And the lake was calm...a good thing.

It was full of weeds which they supposedly "mowed" before our race, but I still ended up with a few covering my cap and goggles as I swam. I just kept thinking about groceries I needed when I got back home.

Really. That's what I thought of.

Oh....

and I also had to watch out for the (rather large) guy who didn't know how to sight while swimming. 

He zigzagged back and forth in front of me....swimming over top of me and hitting and kicking to find his way to the turnaround buoy. 

For some reason I couldn't shake him. 

He crossed me at least 6 times over a 500m distance.

Other than that- I really did enjoy the swim.

(Swim Time: 36:41)

Transition went okay.

I did have to sit down to take off that ridiculous wet suit.

It was either that or fall on top of the guy's bike next to me.

I'm sure that thing was worth more than my vehicle. 

And no- I'm not jealous;)

It was a 3 Loop bike course.....a bit disheartening every time you rode past the volunteer yelling:

"Lap here" or "Finish here"....and I knew I still had to turn right for 2 more laps.

But bike seems to be the easiest leg of the race for me, so I  didn't mind the pedal by canola fields with the mountains off in the distance....3 times in a row.

(Really...I wasn't sightseeing on the bike.

But it sure was a darn pretty ride:)

(Bike Time: 1:10:31)

Last and my least favorite,

was the run.

It wasn't bad to swim 2 laps of the lake course.

And even the 3 loops on the bike was manageable.

But I now know how a hamster feels running on a wheel.

FOUR laps of a running loop was not a good thing for my mental state after all I had already done.

Each time we did a loop on the run we had to actually run BY the Finish Line. 

(Note the signs behind me.

I didn't like them until the 4th lap.)

3 TIMES I ran by that finish...listening to names being called out by the announcer. 

Names of people who had already run the 4 loops.

It was quite the mental challenge (for me).

So... being

the "optimistic blogger/runner/pretender" I had to yell out at every other person I saw on the run...

"It's All In Our Heads!!!"

(pffft!)

I don't think any one believed me.

At that point- I didn't believe it myself.

And neither did my legs or lungs.

But yes. 

I did eventually get to the 4th round.

~Run Time: 1:02~

(not happy with that time at all...but I wasn't going to do it over;)

It's funny....

I'm glad that race has come and gone. 

But I'm left sitting here wondering what I do now.

It seems all those hours of training

for 2 hours and 49 minutes of race time was quite an ordeal.

I can't quit thinking....

*Maybe I should use up all that training for a few more races.

*It wasn't all that bad.

*The run could eventually be my friend.

*I felt actually pretty good after I caught my breath.

*I think I could do a few more over the next month or so.

Then again, 

maybe it's just all in my head...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A HUGE thanks to all of you who encouraged me and believed I could do this thing. I actually thought of you as I ran and didn't want to quit because I didn't want to do a blog post on quitting;)

And another thank you to all the other Blogger/Triathletes out there who are such an inspiration for me. 

You HIM and IM people are Amazing to go those distances!!!)