I am a triathlete!

Run bike swim bike swim bike bike bike run run swim bike run run run run swim bike...the story of many an hour over the past few months whilst getting myself ready for my first triathlon. Luckily I have also had a training partner. Kalie, whilst not doing the tri herself, kicked my butt up many a Cumberland hill on foot and bike and also lent me a fantastic Liv sized road bike for the event itself. The only drawback of the bike was it having clip in shoes so I had to learn how to clip in and, more importantly, clip out. This was not so easy at first and led to two rather splendid crashes whilst stationary. I have some nice bruises and a scabby knee to show for it! So lots of preparation later...

The day dawned without a cloud in the sky. I set up my transition station with my bike, bike shoes, helmet, trainers, spare clothes and met my neighbours.

Then it was off to the pool to wait...and wait...for my turn. The swim was short - 325 yards/ 13 lengths - and there were people assigned to each lane to count and drop an orange board to indicate when you were on your last length. When my wave was called, I claimed a middle lane along with another woman. As we stood and waited for the people in our lane to finish, we were horrified when the lap counter was too slow to react with the orange board, the man had already flipped and missed it so ended up doing another 2 lengths. Not only that, but the other person in the lane did the same as he knew the man was faster than him so assumed he had 2 more too...we both looked at each other aghast and told each other to COUNT!!!

Anyway, she was on the ball after that and we were fine although the swim was rather frantic and crazy especially at the start. Once 6 mins and 39 seconds were over, it was a jog outside to throw on my socks and shoes, a panic over the fact I couldn't do the clip on my blooming helmet and then I was off. I thought I'd be bothered about being wet but actually I didn't give it a moment's thought. I was only interested in powering off and making sure the people in front were getting closer to me not further away. Kalie had told me highest gear possible and push it so I did. My thighs were killing me after about 2 miles but figured I'd worry about the run when the time came! Thankfully intersections on the course were manned by the police so there was no need to stop until I crossed the dismount line 13 miles (42 minutes) later. Apparently I averaged 18.5 mph (the statistics could make a person seriously nerdy). My legs were by now a combination of jelly and bricks. I managed to transition quickly into my runners but then my weird muscle pop-out happened from my stomach...only a small reason to panic. Oh well, I jiggled a bit and it was ok so then it was off at a snail's pace on the run. An evil hill was a killer, baby steps the whole way up, but at least coming back down allowed my legs to flush out and I could kick up a gear to make it across the finish line in a miraculous 22 minutes 50 seconds! Hurrah!

I had set myself the goal of 1 hr 30 mins and realised from the clock that I had beaten that but was surpised my final time was 1 hr 15 mins 18 secs. 18th overall, 1st in the female 20-29 category. A job well done! I even got a massage and stretch out at the end from a very hunky doctor. Only problem now is I want to do another and I'd like a nice road bike...