Ramblin' Rose Triathalon

While we were training for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, my friend Hilary mentioned that she had competed in a triathalon the year before.  I thought that was pretty impressive.  She mentioned that she had signed up again and told me that I should do it too.  I laughed at her.  Swimming is certainly not my strong suit-I can survive in a pool, but that's about it.  I haven't been on a bike since middle school except for once at the beach.  So, based on those facts, a triathalon doesn't really sound like my cup of tea.  However, she worked on me, convinced me that the distances weren't that far, and so I signed up.  What was I thinking?

The Ramblin' Rose Triathalon was a triathalon just for women, and the distances definitely were more manageable for me.  The swim was 225 yards, the bike-9 miles, and the run-2 miles.  So, with a little training I thought that I just might be able to do this.  However, when I went for my first training swim, surrounded by swim team pre-teens at our local indoor pool, I was worried.  I couldn't get across the pool without being completely winded and having to hang on the edge for a long time to recover.  How was I going to complete 9 lengths of the pool?  Then, I tried the bike.  The only bike I had was Ian's, and even with the seat all the way lowered, my feet were still a little high off the ground.  When biking up a hill, I wobbled fairly dangerously, but at least on that leg, I didn't have to worry about drowning!  The run-I wasn't worried about that!

So, the day of the race arrived.  I was insanely nervous, mainly about the swim.  To add to my nerves, I was going to have to drive Ian's car to the race in the morning because I had to take the bike rack.  As you all probably know, I'm not the best stick-shift driver in the world, so the drive to the race seemed a little like a fourth leg of the race to me!  But I made it!

I set up my equipment, lined up by the pool with the other 1000-ish participants, and it was time to go.  I was really nervous as I approached the pool.  Then, I heard my name.  I turned, and there was my family waving and cheering me on.  It meant so much to me to have my boys there watching me.  It was just the boost I needed before I started. 

I jumped in.  I had ranked my self a "5" in my swimming ability which was average.  Once I started training I had realized that I was not quite a "5", but I would be swimming with all of the other people that gave themselves that ranking.  Oh well, I plodded along, and didn't even stop too long at the walls.  Other people passed me quite a few times, but I stayed afloat.  About 20 feet from the ladder out of the pool I managed to swallow a bit of water, but other than that I did great and finished in about 7 and a half minutes.

After the swim, my legs were pretty wobbly, but I headed into the transition area and grabbed my bike.  The course was only 9 miles, but it was the hilliest 9 miles I've ever tried to ride.  On this leg, I managed to pass some people and some people passed me.  On some of the hills people got off their bikes to walk, so I was proud that I managed to stay on the bike from start to finish riding the whole way.  41 minutes later, I was done with the bike.

I finished the biking leg, and by this point I was feeling a bit queasy, but I headed out on the run course happy that I was now on to the leg I was familiar with.  As the run progressed I started to feel better and better and picked up speed.  As I crossed the finish line, I was sprinting, and I was thrilled that I was done with my first triathalon.  To top it all off, my boys were waiting for me at the finish line.  What could be better than that?  I'm glad the boys got to see their mom competing and working hard to accomplish something.  My total time was 1:11 which put me in the top half of the finishers!

While I'm really proud that I finished the race, I think it convinced me that, while I can call myself a triathalete, I am primarily a runner. I'll leave the swimming and the biking to the pros and get started training for that marathon this fall!  Yikes!