I signed up almost two weeks ago to compete in my first triathlon. Without swimming more than twice prior to the race, I think it went pretty well yesterday!
A group of my friends/coworkers were all competing- for 3 of us it was our first triathlon and had signed up last minute, so we were a little nervous. When we arrived to the race, it was a bit overwhelming. There were a lot of fancy bikes and people with other high end tri gear who had clearly done this many times before. My friend, Allison (who wrote earlier in this blog) sent me a picture the night before of how I should set my transition area up which was helpful.
my transition station
Once we were all set up, we wandered down to the beach to take a look at the swim course- the part I was dreading the most. It didn't look so far from the beach, which helped ease my nerves a bit.
I couldn't wait to get through this first finish line because it meant the hardest part was over for me. We met about 10 minutes before the first wave was set to start for a pre race meeting where they went over all the rules and details of the course- I have to admit that it went in one ear and out the other as I was getting anxious. My friends and I were all set to go in different waves. Since I had signed up for the beginner women's swim wave, I was the last wave of the race and didn't actually start until close to an hour after the first wave. The other women in my wave were very friendly and all encouraging each other as many of us were first timers. Before I knew it, we had the go ahead and it was a sprint start on the beach into the water. The first leg of the swim seemed to fly by as I was more focused on getting some space to swim. Once I reached the first turn buoy, the field had spread out. I swam a mixture of every stroke (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke), switching as I'd fatigue with each one while trying to save my legs as much as possible. I had never swam a half mile straight through in my life until yesterday, so I was pretty proud of myself (and relieved) when I made it back to the beach!
My transition went smoothly and I didn't get stuck in my wetsuit, so I was off on my bike in a matter of minutes. It felt good to be moving a bit faster and actually be passing people to make up for the time I lost swimming. When I got to the running portion, it took a mile for my legs to feel somewhat normal again after all the swimming and biking. I felt like I was trying to run on legs made of jello, which made me doubt how the rest of the run was going to go. Everyone on the course was cheering each other on and high fiving as we passed each other on the out and back course. It was a beautiful course for biking/running that ran along the water in South Boston. It was great to hear my friends who were already done cheering me on at the finish line as I finally made it in! Instead of medals, they gave everyone a Boston Triathlon pint glass, which is a great addition to my collection (and much more useful than a medal). All in all, it was a great experience and I will definitely be doing another triathlon in the future!
view of the finish line the day before at the race expo
"a wicked good race...an even better party"
the gang after finishing the race
Later that day I hosted a few good friends over at my place for dinner to relax after the race and catch up. One of them brought this adorable (and delicious!) cake.
I'm so fortunate to have an amazing group of friends to support me and cheer me on through all these races! Next up is the Maine Marathon in Portland October 6- I can't wait! I will also be signing up for the Boston Marathon again at the end of this month and will be rejoining the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team- I hope you all continue to follow me on this journey as I raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to bring us closer to a cure. :)
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
-S
