Today started when my nerves woke me up at 4:30 am, even thought my alarm was set for 4:45 am.
I was actually happy (even at that insane hour) to have a break from the crazy dreams.
I dreamt that I forgot all my important clothing, was an hours late and got all my gear messed up.
My roommate Joy who was also competing, my sister, our self appointed groupie, and I arrived at the race sight with plenty of extra time.
We knew it would take a while to figure everything out.
People were really nice; they answered all our questions and gave lots of great advice.
We were willing to take all the help we could get!
Right before the race started and we begin running into the ocean for the swim, I remember thinking, oh my gosh I am actually doing this.
I’ve wanted to do a triathlon for the last 5 years but one thing or another has always held me back.
The water was freezing, but the swim was challenging without being too tough.
We always practiced with out wetsuits so having one for the race made things more speedy and comfortable.
One of the best feelings was jogging out of the water to the screams of our fan section.
After the swim we hopped onto our bikes, for the ride.
It wasn’t until about 7 miles into the bike ride that I realized, no matter what, we are going to finish.
This was an exhilarating thought.
I had feared the run portion of the race the most because it was our weakest event.
Fortunately it was surprisingly easy.
By that point my competitive nature had kicked in and I was ready to finish strong and pass as many people as possible.
The miles went quickly and before I knew it our friends and family were cheering us down the final stretch.
It was so epic (got to throw in a few
California words) to cross that finish line and give our friends and family big sweaty hugs.
Endorphins are my close friend so I was giddy and hyper afterwards.
One cool thing was that I ended up getting second in my division and my roommate got third.
We got sweet metals and everything.
Thanks again for the prayers.
It was so fun to do something completely new and outside my comfort zone.
It’s cool to think that we have a year of new, challenging, out of the comfort zone experiences coming up.
