Tri-Hard Challenge

800 Meter Swim
18 Mile Bike Ride
3.1 Mile Run

Completed.

And I am really happy to have accomplished my goal...to finish the race. There were a few points during each part of the race where I wanted to give up (i.e. when I got kicked in the face while swimming; trying to climb those hills biking; seeming to NEVER get to the turn around while running), but I kept going and finished in 2:23:38 (2 hours, 23 minutes and 38 seconds). I was not aiming to finish in a certain amount of time since this was my first Sprint Triathlon, but with that time, I actually came in 2nd in my division.

Except they put me in the wrong division. Savanah finished the race almost a minute after me and got a 2nd place medal, and I got nothing because I finished 8th in the wrong division. 20-24 should have been my division (seeing as I'm 24), but they stuck me in 25-29 because I turn 25 this year. Well, they can suck it because I'm saying I got 2nd. I'll make my own damn medal.

The drive to Burnet was not bad, but I'm glad we went the day before so that we didn't have to get up at 5am race day and head out there. Our cabin was about 10 feet from the race starting point, kind of awesome. We went on a bike ride when we got there, just to see the road that we would be riding on the next day. After that, we went for a nice swim in the lake right before sunset and it was very relaxing. Dinner was pasta, some good carbs to have us nice and ready for the race the next day. We went to bed early (10pm) and woke up at 6:20am to get ready. It was still dark out, but people were ALREADY setting their bikes up at the transition area. Crazies.

Our wave started at 8:05 and I was ready...until I realized there were 80 people around me also trying to swim in the same direction, feet kicking and arms flying everywhere. I definitely took in some water and had to stop a few times to catch my breath. Savanah blew past me (as I knew she would) and finished a good 2 minutes before me. I caught up to her during the bike ride because her bike could not shift fast enough for the grueling hills (whoever said the ride was mostly flat, lied like a dog). Apparently it took me over 3 minutes to transition from Swim to Bike and only 52 seconds to go from Bike to Run, so you would think that I had more energy for the run. Wrong. I started running and it was tough! I walked a lot, which is how Savanah caught back up to me, finishing less than a minute after me.

It was tough, but I'm so glad I did it. The 8 weeks of training really helped; I don't think I could have finished without it. Now on to my next challenge...The Warrior Dash.