Swim, Bike, Run, Celebrate!

I did it! I did it! I did it!! 
I DID IT!!!! 
I am a triathlete. 
Me!
.........Wow. 

It's taken me a while for that to actually sink in. (And even longer for me to find enough time to sit down and write about it.) I don't think my old self would recognize this new self. A triathlon wasn't even on my radar before. Not a chance. And now I'm already looking for my next one! My First Tri Portland was such a wonderful and positive experience for me from start to finish. And Portland as a whole, with it's abundance of bike lanes, interesting people, and tasty food options, cemented itself as the place I should be living as soon as possible.

Friday, June 6th: After meticulously packing all of the gear we could possibly need, we loaded everything into the van and set off on our road trip. It could not have been a more beautiful day to drive, and even though I'm notorious for napping on a long car ride, my nerves and anticipation kept me awake to enjoy it, which I'm sure my husband appreciated.

 After picking up our race packets we headed to Blue Lake Park to get the lay of the land. I was actually getting reeeally nervous at this point. Mostly fear about the unknown. One of my concerns was the water temperature. We had opted to not use wet suits, mostly because we are cheap, but also because it seemed like one more thing to have to figure out. But if the 80 degree pool sometimes felt chilly, the 60-70 degree lake was going to be freezing! Oh well, it was too late to change my mind. My other concern was lake weeds getting all over me. I imagined getting tangled in them and not being able to free myself before a big fish started biting my feet. Yes, I know how ridiculous this sounds, but at this point that's my concern, or at least that it will get all over me and I'll panic.

After dipping  my toesies in the water I was less worried. Sure, it was colder, but a far cry from the glacier water I was imagining I was in for. And as for lake weed, it looked pretty clear to me from what I could see from shore, so death by lake weed didn't seem like an imminent danger anymore.

  

My nerves began to subside as we set off on a walk around the park. I kept reminding myself that I knew I had done it in practice so I didn't need to worry about it now. I just wanted to finish and preferably under 2 hours; I can improve my time later. I really wanted to fully soak up all of the experience and try to enjoy it. Just be present and breathe. We stopped and smelled the flowers and played along the trails around the park while we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. 

Saturday June 7th: The morning of the tri we woke up just as the sky was starting to get light. I felt focused and ready. The hotel was buzzing with an excited energy from all the racers. People from all over, coming together and sharing their stories or worries about their first time. There was plenty of time to chat and eat breakfast before heading down to the park to set up our gear in the transition area. 

My nerves escalated quickly as we arrived at the park. When we checked in, a young girl wrote my race number on my left calf then asked simply how old I was. In that moment I was totally stumped. It was 27 or 28 but for some reason I was drawing a blank. But I didn't want to seem stupid not being able to recite such obvious information, so I quickly went with 27. She wrote it on my leg and I walked away then thinking I went with the wrong age and hoping it wouldn't really matter. Crap. (For the record, I actually am 28.)

It was a slightly chilly morning so we stayed in our warm clothes as long as possible. We were definitely in the minority of people without wet suits but I felt good about that decision as I watched other first timers nervously stuff themselves into another layer of skin tight clothing.

We were split up into different groups based on our age. Had we realized it was going to work out like this we would have signed up as a family/group and started together. 

We waited and watched as the groups ahead of us went. Multiple people had trouble and got pulled from the water which concerned me. I really really reeeeealy didn't want that to happen to me. Out of the three of us, Josh's group was first, next was mine, then Daisy's. I cheered as Josh's group got started and my own start got closer. I stood part way in the water to take away some of the shock of the initial dive in. Then it was my turn to start. "Say hi to the person next to you and tell them your name," the announcer called out. I turn excitedly to a woman to my right, we exchange names and I impulsively hugged her, mostly because I needed a hug right at that moment. I let her go from my over eager hug and told her we were both going to do great!

5...4...3...2...1....And we're off! The water was cold enough to take my breath away. Not so much that I felt like I had to turn around and get right back out but enough that I had to talk myself through breathing slowly. My goggles decided that this moment would be a good time to fog up and leak a tiny bit. Just great. I tried to fix it mid swim but that wasn't happening so I opted for wearing them like a necklace. I wasn't cold for long and the swim went by fairly quickly. As I rounded the last buoy I mentally walked myself through the transition so hopefully I wouldn't get too lost in the blur of the race and forget something important.

I was concerned about being too cold for the bike portion, so I had a dry shirt and a jacket ready to go, and opted for just the shirt in the moment, a choice that worked well for me. The headwind going out was a little rough but it was ok because the view of the river made it enjoyable and the tail wind coming back was super fun. People were really nice as they passed or got passed, "Good job", "You're lookin' great", "Keep it up", "There's beer at the finish line"! The camaraderie was really something else.

Going into the run, I was hopped up on adrenalin and energy gel. I was excited I was almost done, and sad it was almost over. I ran past a stranger who cheered me on saying, "You don't look like this is your first tri!" And I don't even care that she was totally lying. Finish line here I come!

I did it! I did it! I did it!! 
I DID IT!!!! 
I am a triathlete. 
Me!
.........Wow. 

My very first medal EVER!!!!! Yep, crossed the finish line, got handed a surprisingly beefy medal and started crying like a baby.

 !!!!!Check out this bad boy!!!!! :)

I can't say enough about how much I appreciate the support from everyone. My family was there cheering us on at each stage with their crazy amazing wonderful homemade signs. My brothers ran all over rooting us on and taking tons of pictures. And my very pregnant best friend even made it to support us. To all of you, this means the world. Thank you for being a part of something that is a really big deal for me. Seriously, I love the crap out of you all! 

To Daisy (who finished 3rd in her age group!), you are an incredible human being and motivator, and you never cease to amaze me. I am so beyond grateful we are having these experiences together. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me stay accountable and for pushing me when I need it. 

To my husband Josh, when I asked if you wanted to join us for the tri I didn't think you would want to, but you did, and with enthusiasm! I am so incredibly impressed by you and very happy that you decided to go for it. I am proud to be your wife and found myself falling in love with you over and over during this trip. I am so glad we are in this together.

1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. My overall finish time was 1 hour and 46 minutes which is just fine by me. It's under the 2 hour goal I had and gives me a new goal for improving my time on the next one.

Obviously after such an event, it's time to let the celebrating begin! It went something like this: drink, eat, art, drink, eat, hike, drink, eat, bonfire, sleep. What a day!

Still A Work In Progress

Training, planning, preparing and collecting gear is how I've been spending my time. I can't say every day has been great but most of them are pretty dang exciting. My family is getting more awesome and healthy every day. I am so very proud of all of us. Soon we will be a well oiled machine. :)

Bloomsday was a month ago and we continued our tradition of doing it as a family for a third year in a row now. 

Josh and I had considered trying to run it, but the girls really wanted to have us all do it together, and I was fine with that.

 Biking continues to be a favorite activity for all of us. 

Mothers day? Family bike ride sounds perfect!

 Bad day? Biking will fix that!

Visiting friends or family? Bike will get you there!

Feel like exploring? Do it on a bike!

Afternoon workout? Bikes are best!

Commute to work? Biking could save you tons of money! 

OK, so I don't do this, but Josh has recently started to. And his commute is 12.3 miles each way. I think he's pretty impressive and I'm super jealous he gets to do this.

Also we have been spending a good amount of time gearing up for our long distance ride later this summer. I now have quite the collection of maps for trails, forest service service roads and highways. We have even been out a few times scouting the roads and campgrounds and determining the best route to take. While the route still has some finalizing to be done, one thing is sure, it is going to be an incredible journey!

 Somewhere in all the planning, the research and the training we were able to sneak out for a double date for dinner and theater. I have to say this because the soundtrack continues to dance through my ears and join me on many bike rides. WICKED is an absolutely fantastic show, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Then recently I had the opportunity to join in with the Happiness Sprinkling Project and well, sprinkle happiness around downtown. I traded signs a couple times with the end goal of getting my hands on the "Free Hugs" sign. You see this was very much out of my comfort zone but I needed to prove something to myself. Hugs are funny to me. I'm not the kind of person who hugs anyone and everyone as I come and go. No, my hugs are more exclusive and saved for people I really care about or special occasions. Because of this, I have even been told on two different occasions that I do not seem like the kind of person you would hug. So there ya go. I clearly needed to hug some strangers. And I did. Lots of them. The quick hugs from younger guys, the overly perfume saturated hugs from the older ladies, the tiny squeezes from the little kids, the unsure hugs from older men and their wives, the long hug from someone in need, a tight hug from a fellow mom.....I got them all and more. And what do you know, their happiness rubbed off on me 10 fold! It was a really fun experience that I plan on recreating again in the future.

It's only fair to also share the other side too. Even with all this awesomeness, I'm still having some scattered hard days. Days where none of it seems like enough, days where all of it seems like too much, days where I'm beyond exhausted, days where I'm super stressed out, and days where I'm way too hard on myself. I can't say enough how much I appreciate my family for being patient with me. I'm still a work in progress.

But since today isn't even close to a bad day I'm going to celebrate! Eeeeeek! Tomorrow I will be in Portland carb loading for My First Tri the next day. Things really seemed to move along fast. I could have been stricter about sticking to the training outline, but I still did pretty darn good, so I'm not too worried. We did a full test run through last weekend and it went great. Sure there was a flat tire, a chain issue, a sudden rain shower joined by gusts of wind, aaaand I almost crashed once, but hey, that's what makes it exciting. ;) So bring it on! I'M READY!!!!!