Dare To Tri

After 11 weeks of training our August date- the Dare to Tri sprint triathlon, finally arrived. We lucked out and were able to borrow two road bikes from a couple in our ward (I was ready to ride the 14 mile course with a baby seat on my mountain bike). We did 99% of our swimming at the community center with convenient black lines along the bottom of the pool and walls to hold onto every 25 yards. Running was the hardest (or least enjoyable) because of the 100+ temperatures on the heat index.

RJ decided that he would do the whole race with me even if that meant slowing down. I pushed myself hard during training to be able to keep up with his monster long stride. I felt excited the day of the race because I knew that my body was ready and that I could enjoy the race.

6:15 a.m. race day

There were between 750-1,000 athletes participating in one of three events (tri-star111, olympic triathlon, sprint triathlon). RJ is setting up at the transition station before they lock it up.

We were both in novice swim waves. I was in a wave about 6 minutes before RJ's. Beth had counseled me to stay in the back but I found that once I got in the water, I was stuck behind people slower than me (something I had not anticipated)! It took me a few minutes to beak free and I tried to get into a rhythm but found that my side stroke was faster, easier and with less variance from the path than my front stroke. It was not a pretty swim to watch, I am sure but I decided to just enjoy my swim as I looked at the clear blue sky and breathed deeply. I did rotate through strokes later and spotted the beach! Thankfully, I spotted my wardrobe malfunction first! I tucked myself back into my swimming suit before launching out of the water in a full out sprint (just to get to my bike and wait for RJ).

RJ rented a wetsuit for fear of drowning. He stopped at the first boat to catch his breath and was able to do some back floating to get himself through the rest. I began to wonder if he was struggling in the water when I saw a white tank top walking down the blacktop.

He pulled his wetsuit back up for a picture (that's how much of a hurry we were in). We decided before hand that RJ would follow me on the bike since he is a stronger/faster biker and we wanted to stay together. That lasted about 5 minutes. When he passed me, I tried to keep up but my legs were burning. Once I got over the fact that he left me in the dust, I enjoyed my ride and did my best time. RJ was waiting for me at the transition station and we ran the 3 miles together talking the whole way. We crossed the finish line holding hands. RJ contemplated carrying me across the finish line but then remembered that one of the rules states that you cannot assist another athlete or you will be disqualified. We decided to play by the rules.

Our goal was to finish in less than two hours and we did it in 1 hour and 50 minutes (.3 mile swim, 14 mile bike, 3 mile run). Hunter asked if we won! Almost. We came in 322 and 361 out of 416!

I really enjoyed this whole experience with RJ. We had so much fun, that night we signed up for a warrior run (a 5K with 17 obstacles) to take place June, 2012.