My First Triathlon

About a month ago, I was at Payson Lakes for the Hess Family Reunion. We were atop the dock that sits 10-15 feet above the water and various family members were jumping in to the freezing cold water. Even Sean's aunt KoLynn was jumping in with her grandkids and everyone was having fun together. But I was feeling worn out and tired, not really wanting to participate due to my sleeping-in-a-tent-on-a-half-inflated-mattress-next-to-wiggly-boys induced lack of sleep. I didn't want to be more uncomfortable, cold, and tired than I already was. But as I watched my family, and KoLynn having such a great time, I realized something very important: I am not getting any younger or more energetic. But I'm not an old dog yet, I can still learn new tricks. I wanted to have fun with my family, I wanted to laugh and make memories. I wanted to be that kind of a person who is "up" for doing things, who is enjoyable to be around, and does things to stay young at heart. So I jumped in. Over and over. I played and laughed with my kids and my family, and I was freezing, but so happy. And now I have some great memories.

So, last Saturday, I did another "new trick". It was the Share a Smile Triathlon at Scera park. I found out about it from my friend Melody who has been doing it the past few years. She encouraged me to give it a try after I told her I was interested in doing Triathlons, but wanted to ease into it. So this one was perfect because they had a Sprint (or half distance) division. I trained for a few weeks, got myself a shiny red bike, and told myself that having fun and even just finishing the race would be good enough for my first time.

Race day came and I felt nervous, but tried not to worry about it because I wasn't going to get competitive. I was prepared with my "excuses" tucked away in my pocket just in case I didn't do well: I have a herniated disk, and a bad knee, and I've had two babies, and I didn't have very long to train for it.

I jumped in the water when my turn came, did the 8 laps, walked over to my bike while chatting with my family and holding my babies, strapped on my biking gear (helmet, sun-glasses, iPhone armband and music, chap-stick, gum, socks, biking shoes) And made my way over to the start of the bike route. I did try to pass people while biking, just because I know I can actually go fast on my road bike, so I felt like the 6 mile ride was pretty good. Then came the run and I was off like a marble in molasses. But I told myself I just needed to finish, and that's good enough. I went slower and slower as I neared the end, and then made myself sprint the last few minutes to the finish line because it just got so exciting! Then they gave me my time card. And guess what it said?! 1st place! It must be a fluke, I thought. I'd have to wait a few days until the official results were in on the website. So I waited to see how well I really did, and well... Here are the final results:

Overall	Bib	Name	Age	Team		Division			Time
1.	82	Catherine Hess	26	Unattached		1.	Women 1-99		50:40.2

Swim: 04:25.4 (1st place)

Swim to Bike Transition: 05:40.3 (13th place)

Bike: 20:03.7 (1st place)

Bike to Run Transition:01:49.9 (9th place)

Run: 18:40.9 (3rd place)

http://www.runnercard.com/runner/data/1825/3559/Result/Womens_Novice_Triathlon-Overall.htm

I'm still amazed that I got first place overall because my transition times were SO looooooong! But I'm definitely excited to do more Triathlons in the near future and to see if I can shave off some minutes here and there. Thanks to my family who came out to support and encourage me!

I'm glad I learned that I'm not too old to start doing new tricks.

Posted via email from catherine's posterous