Tri Tri Tri Again

It's Tuesday and the triathlon was Saturday and I'm just now starting to feel a bit more normal. The days leading up to the race were difficult and long. I don't deal well with anticipation so I was super nervous, jittery, agitated, you name it. I took something to help me sleep every night, including the night before the race. On Friday, Jodi and I drove into Minneapolis to pick up our race packets at the Convetion Center. I spent the rest of Friday, literally, pacing. I had a hard time eating (that's been an issue for a couple weeks). Anyway.

We set our alarms for 4 a.m. because we were told to arrive at Lake Nokomis for body numbering no later than 5:30 a.m. Mitch was our one-man entourage. He walked both of our bikes while we carried all the stuff we needed at transition. I was shocked at how packed the place was at 5 a.m. The transition area was chaotic to say the least and full of very athletic, competitive looking people. Setting up the transition area was tricky. That's something I guess I'll learn with time. And the time went fast that day. Just as I finished setting up my transition, we were instructed to get out of the transition area, as it was closing. Before I knew it, I was by myself on the beach with thousands of others ;) and in line to start. Jodi started about twenty-five minutes after me. Overall, the race was pretty good. The one-mile swim was shockingly long and people were crazy on the first right turn. I felt like people were thrashing around me. My leg cramped up once after I kicked into the person swimming next to me (accidentally) and I felt myself go into a little panic. I wasn't sure whether I should stop then and wave over a lifeguard or keep going and hope for the best. I opted for the latter and did make it out of the lake. I can't stress enough how long the lake swim was. I think I need to upload a picture just so you can see how long it was.

So many people told me that the bike course was flat. Hmmm. Didn't seem flat to me and I cursed my damn hibrid bike the entire time. Road bikes whizzed past me no problem. I had to stand up to get up hills on my thousand pound two-wheeler while others just seemed to leisurely pedal upward. I can't say much more about the bike except that I still haven't forgiven my Trek and am in the market for a new road bike. I'm serious. I don't even want to go out on a family ride I'm so pissed at it.

We ran around Lake Nokomis and then some twice during the last leg of the race. I felt pretty good on the first lap and then something happened during the second. As I've told some people, of all the events we do during a triathlon, the run is my best and I can usually kick it into high gear near the end. During the second lap my chest and lungs started really hurting and I couldn't seem to pick up the pace at all. Some nice lady started running next to me during that time, wanting to talk (probably as a distraction) but I was in a very bad place at that time and feel bad that I wasn't a bit more personable. The run took me about ten minutes longer than it typically does. I guess I was pooped after swimming and biking.

My family was very supportive during the race. My mom, sister Sarah, and Mitch were there to cheer me on after each leg. Mitch was really cute during the race, as my mom has informed me multiple times. I guess he was running alongside me after the swim yelling "good job honey! good job honey!" At the end of the race, he yelled to someone he knew in the VIP area, "that's my wife!" It's nice to know that he felt so happy for me. He was as nervous as I was before the race!

As I crossed the finish line, I heard the announcer say something about "Here comes Bethany crossing the finish line." Now, in that moment, I thought, "That's weird, someone else named Bethany is crossing the finish the same time I am." I guess in times of extreme exhaustion, I have trouble putting two and two together.

Post-Race News: I am going to start training for a 10 mile run (September 27th- Women Run the Cities). Training for something rather than just working out keeps me motivated. I went for a run (/walk) tonight. Hilarious!