Life is Short....

Well, I got to cross something off my "list" this weekend.

That's me, crossing the finish line of my first-ever triathlon, a Sprint Triathlon at Ancilla College in Plymouth, Indiana.

All told, it was a 500-yard swim, 11-mile bike, and 3.1-mile run. I told people I'd be ecstatic with a 90 minute finish time. I managed to squeak in under that by 3ish minutes, with a final time of 1:26:35.6.

I started in the second wave, behind only the young kids, so all the "good" people started behind me. This became painfully obvious during the bike leg, when I got passed and passed and passed and passed again. The race had been limited to the first 150 participants, and I just kept thinking to myself, "Have 149 people passed me yet??"


I reassured myself, however, by noting that practically every single bike that passed me was one of those hard-core racing bikes, designed for triathlons, with super-thin tires and those really low handle-bars, and crazy disc-spokes-thingies, and clearly I don't belong in a triathlon field because I have no idea what these things even are.

I mean, seriously, I was walking through the transition area before the race and noticing all the people with a different pair of shoes for the bike versus the run and I wasn't even aware people cared about what kind of shoes they wore on a bike.

At any rate, the swim was bad, as I thought it would be. I have zero swim technique and finished dead last in my wave. I also was a little panicky at the beginning and didn't really pay any attention to my breathing, which is bad when you're in the water, trust me. I kind of choked and sputtered a bit, and then realized I was feeling out of breath and I hadn't swum 50 yards yet. That got me a bit more panicked so I kind of slowed down a bit and tried to gather my bearings and meanwhile the wave behind me was already passing me and I was thinking the shore didn't look any closer than it did at the beginning.  (Swim time: 9:41)

But, I made it to the shore finally, fumbled my socks and shoes on, slapped on my helmet, and choked down a Clif bar before hopping on the bike. The bike ride was long, a little hilly, but not totally horrible. I'm not fast on a bike, so I just went fairly steady while I kept marveling in my head that yes, I was actually in the middle of an honest-to-goodness triathlon. (Bike time: 46:30)

Then came the run. I was a little shaky at first, but after about a half mile, started to feel back to normal. I'm obviously much more comfortable with running than I am with either swimming or biking, so I was happy to be on my feet and doing something that I knew I could do. It was starting to get a bit hot by this time, but they did pretty good with the water stations. I ran slower than my typical race pace but not a bad showing, all things considered. (Run time: 27:06)

Now, as triathlon times go, mine is really nothing to write home about. I finished 107th in the field of about 130, and got beat handily by at least one 70-year-old. But, it's also something I've never done before, I was clearly out of my element, but doggonit, I did it anyway.

I told Ben I was a bit surprised by how hard-core these people were, I was kind of hoping for a more casual triathlon atmosphere.

He said, "I don't think there's much of a market for the casual triathlete."

Well, that's what I am, as is my pal Erin, who raced with me. And I think we did the casual triathlete group proud.

(Us, with our cheerleader Melissa)