TriathaMOM

Many months ago I signed up for Utah's TriathaMOM.  It's a sprint triathlon that is just for females and is non-competitive.  I had always thought I would never be able to do a triathlon because of the swimming part.  But I started swimming last fall/winter and after months I was able to swim consecutive laps - it was truly a miracle!  I had never ever swam a lap in my life.  I started slowly - I would swim a lap with flippers, a lap with a kick-board, and then a "real" lap.  Then repeat.  My first laps that I swam, and this happened for weeks, I would have to stop after a length.  Anyways, once I started being able to swim laps after laps, I decided to sign up for my very first triathlon.

So last Saturday was the race.  We left after Jonas' first day of middle school and so got in to Utah late-ish.  I was not expecting anyone to come with me in the morning to get all set-up and stuff, but Ben wanted to and was planning on it and so that was super nice.  We dragged Miles along so my parents would only have to take one car with the rest of the crew.

We got up at 4:30 AM and was on the road by 5.  We got to the race by about 6 AM and I was able to set up my transition area and check out "the hill" on the run.  I finally sent the boys away to get some breakfast.  A friend of mine from Montrose was doing it as well - as well as one of her friends.  So I hung out with them.

The race started a little after 7:30 and we were in line waiting our turn for the swim.  We were supposed to be grouped according to our swim times . . . but it was sort of a joke.  We saw "expert" swimmers who wouldn't put their heads in the water, were walking, etc.  The swim-part was quite lame, actually.  I was behind people who were walking (it's a shallow pool)!  It was super frustrating.  I got bonked, hit, and splashed - and I'm sure I did my fair share of hitting, bonking, and splashing.  I lost count of how many times water got splashed up my nose.  It was very unpleasant.  You are told to pass on the left  - which sounds good, but not when you have people swimming on both sides of the lane.  And lots of people - like 10 or so in the same lane.  Anyways, I swam it and finally got out!

Then it was to transition area to get on my socks, shoes, and helmet.  Plus eat an energy chew and put in a stick of gum (in my training I realized how dry my mouth got after swimming; gum really helps).  I felt great on my bike ride.  I ended up passing lots of people.  I made it back way faster than I was predicting.

Last was my run.  I dropped off my bike and helmet and started to run!  It was an out-and-back (like the bike ride) and it started by going down a good hill.  Then it was pretty flat to the half-way point.  Then back - including, of course, going up the hill at the very end.  I passed many people on the run as well - and got passed by one person.  I felt good all the way to the finish line.

I ended up placing 25th out of 364.  That is like amazing for me!  I never do that well!  I think it was because I was with a group of mom-athletes.  :)  But I liked being with them - I felt good and strong.  I honestly felt like I was going to be slow on the bike-ride - but that's because I ride with Ben!  Ha.  Also, I got 7th place out of 100 women in my age group.  Top ten!  Wahoo.  I was really pleased and excited.

I think my training I did over the summer worked great.  I did at least 5-6 "tri-trainings," where I would do it all - swim, bike, and run.  I always swam 1,000 yards for those trainings.  The triathaMOM was only a 300-meter swim.  The bike-ride was supposed to be a 12-mile ride, but was only a little over 11.  The run was a 5K.

 It was still dark and a little chilly!  Here I was setting up my transition area.

 Ben took a picture of the pool.

 Christine, Heather, and myself - all from Montrose and all doing our first triathlon!

 There I am waiting to get in to the pool - finally!  :)

Haha, nice picture Ben!

 Done with swimming (Ben missed me as I jumped out of the pool and ran by) and on to biking!

 Coming in from my ride!

 There was free cotton candy for everyone waiting, plus bouncy houses and face-painting.  It was all free.  My girls really wanted their faces painted, but the line was way too long.  The girls enjoyed the slides and everyone enjoyed the cotton-candy.  :)

 My fans!

 Finishing up my run - almost done!

 Our legs got stamped with our age - awesome.  Ben loved checking out all the ladies' legs to see their ages.  It was actually cool to see everyone's ages!

 My fans!

Me, the TriahaMOM, with my four awesome kids.  My biggest fan and supporter, though, was/is Ben.  He's great and amazing and always super supportive of me!  I'm a lucky gal.

Just for my records, here are my stats:
Place 25th (out of 364), swim time 9:24/swim pace 3:08, T1 time 2:10, bike time 34:42/bike pace 20.7mph, T2 time 0:56, run time 29:03/run pace 9:22, total time 1:16:13:8, 7th place out of 100 in my age division.