Triathlete

I've never considered myself an athlete, but now I can claim membership in the somewhat elite circle of triathletes.

The Turtle Crawl Triathlon on Saturday proved to be my favorite race to date.  It was at times challenging, overwhelming, awe-inspiring, empowering and satisfying.  It was also just over 12 miles swimming, biking and running on the most beautiful course I've ever been on. I'm so glad I pushed myself to do it.

I finished in 93 minutes and 25 seconds and 8th in my division.  I had estimated 90 minutes of racing time, but had forgotten to include the time for the transition - moving from swimming to biking and from biking to running, so I actually finished faster than I expected.

I was nervous before the race started, but I went out into the water to see how cold it was (it wasn't bad at all!) and floating out there made all of my nerves disappear.  I'm a lifelong swimmer and ocean lover. It just felt right to be out there.

The only bad thing is that of course now I want to do more triathlons, and after doing my first one at the ocean, I'm not sure I could ever do a pool or lake-based triathlon.  I love the ocean so much, but it really limits my options and increases my expenses/driving times.

One of the best things about the race was that my friends pretty sneakily created bunches of giant signs for me.  I went to bed early Friday night, and they went and placed them all along the bike and run courses after I was asleep.  I saw my first one when I was not far out of the parking lot on my bike, and it made me cry.

There's a lot more to say, but to keep this from being too long, stay tuned for more tomorrow.