AlanandVal

Amazing!

Last weekend I marked #3 off my 30 things by Thirty list: complete an Olympic Triathlon, the amazing part is I finished and lived to tell about it.  This race had been haunting me for weeks and as the starting horn drew closer I started to panic that I wasn't quite ready to run with the big dogs and complete this kind of distance.  We drove down to Jacksonville and met up with Alan's parents who came along to cheer us on. However Alan's mom is a nurse and I'm still not 100% sure he didn't pay her to be there as medical support for me!  We enjoyed a nice afternoon and dinner at Olive Garden, my favorite restaurant and the perfect place to carb-load.  Then we headed back to the base where the race was and where we were all staying for the night.  Up at 4:30, we dressed, consumed our bananas and oatmeal and were off to the transition area to get set-up.  We got everything set-up quickly and headed to the start line.  After the silent wave, which was representative of members of the military that could not be there to participate, Alan's wave was off, 6 minutes later it was my turn.  Let me just tell you 1500 meters of swimming, which is .93 miles, is a long swim.  Despite swimming a minimum of 1500 meters in the pool twice a week, the buoys seemed forever apart and I definitely felt all 1500 meters of the swim.  However, half way to the first buoy I started to get my rhythm and pay attention to my form (something that I don't really seem to have time for in the shorter races) and by the time I rounded the last buoy I was calm, and despite the waves, very focused.  The rest of the race wasn't as daunting as the swim, at least in my mind, however after 25 miles on the bike, my legs weren't so sure about a 6.25 run. Alan finished the race in 2:38 and I finished in 3:12, my goal was 3:30, so I was thrilled with 3:12 and 6th out of 9 in my group.  Alan knocked it out with 13th out of  23 in his group.  We had a great time and are ready to keep training to see if we can improve on our times.  So...what's next??  Well despite all my doubts and fears I am game to do it again.  This weekend we will be signing up for 1 more Olympic Tri for this season.  I promise we aren't crazy, mildly addicted at most!

Pictures from the race:

HOT 8-2010