Triathlete!

Wow...it's been awhile! I have a LOT to catch up on, so I'm probably just going to post several different entries...or at least that's my plan! I really enjoy blogging, and I used to blog daily. but, that was before Lucy and now instead of talking about her arrival, I spend my time playing with her!! (Definitely more fun now!!:-)

Anyway, I think in one of my last blogs I mentioned how I was training for a triathlon with some other ladies at church. Well, we actually did it! I can't believe I can say that I'm a triathlete now! I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would fall in love with a "sport," but I totally have! I love seeing the progress from training and then going through the experience of race day. it's really an incredible experience and I'm so thankful my husband has been so supportive to allow me the time to train, as well as give me the encouragement I need to go for it.

Race day was a bit disappointing because I had some MAJOR issues with my bike. If you know much about triathlons (which we knew NOTHING going into this thing!) you would probably have laughed at us as we pulled into the race with our MOUNTAIN BIKES! It was so funny to see the transition area--all these bikes worth thousands of dollars lined the racks, and then, there in one big clump on a rack sat our enormous mountain bikes, sticking out like a sore thumb! LOL:) We knew it would be a disadvantage for us, but we really had no clue how much faster an actual road bike can go--holy cow! More on that later tho... Basically, after 3 months of training with MANY hours spent on my bike, my bike decided to give me problems on the actual race day. Bummer. But I still got to complete the race and while I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, the excitement and the overall experience of it all outweighs any negatives. The best part was having my DH there, my Lucy-bug (she was so cute talking to me during the transitions!) and my little SIL, rooting me on the whole way. They've even decided to start training for a 5k now, and I cannot wait to run with them!! I'm so excited to be able to share in my love of this sport with my family!

So, what's next? Well, I've seriously fallen in LOVE with triathlons and really want to continue training for them. I'd like to do another one on Labor Day since I had issues with this last one, but it all depends on if I can get a bike or not. I had NO clue I had chosen such an expensive hobby! But, I have some money saved back and I have my eye on two different bikes. So now I just need to decide which one I want and am just praying for peace on when and where and how to purchase. So, we'll see...

I've also decided it's high time for me to start upping my running distance, so I'm working towards a 10k now, along with my triathlon training, and hope to run my first 10K in a nearby town in the end of September. I'm definitely most excited to run a race with my DH in October though!

Anyway, if you're on FB you may have already seen these, but just thought I'd share a few pics from the triathlon...

Not sure why they posted in reverse order, but oh well!

Here we are at the finish line! The lady in the green tank and the lady to her right in the stripes are the ones I've been training with.



Here I am sprinting to the finish!



At the start of the 14 mile bike ride:


And here's the start of the race--a 500 yard swim. Not sure where I am, but I was able to complete that portion in 12 minutes!


I hope it's the first of many more to come!