I Am a Woman of Steel!

*Most of my pictures are blown out. I apologize. I forget to check the camera setting before I gave it to my mom. Ooops. 

A few months ago a friend of mine invited me to do a triathlon with her. Since I've always thought it would be kind of fun to do something like that I said yes. I got one of my other friends to do it with me as well and we all started training. Over the last three months I've developed a love hate relationship with training. One the one hand I really like running, biking and swimming. They are really fun and great workouts! On the other hand I hate feeling like I have to do something. But overall it's been really, really good for me. 

Yesterday, May 19th, was the big day. As it started coming closer I began to get a little nervous, but not nervous as in I can't do this or what have I done nervous, more like nervous I am so excited to see how I do kind of nervous. 

We had to be at American Fork rec center sometime between 6-7:30 in order to get all set up. I didn't want to have to wake the kids up at 5:30 and take them to my in-laws so I decided, at the last minute, we'd sleep at my parents house that night. The kids were already at my parents house so at 10pm I had to drive home and pick up diapers, clothes for the next day, and all my triathlon gear. While I was getting ready for Saturday I realized I'd forgotten to get a bike helmet. I looked everywhere for Chris's, and couldn't for the life of me find it. 

It's always when you need something...

So at 11:00 I drove to Walmart and picked one out. By the time I got back to my parents house it was midnight. So much for getting a full nights rest. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. I was too excited to sleep. Finally after hours of tossing and turning, I decided to switch beds. I moved into Mary's old bed and was finally able to go to sleep. 

I woke up around 6am and was so excited. I decided to practice my transition from the swim to the run and see how quickly I could change. Many people just ran in their swimsuit, but mine didn't have enough support and usually gave me a wedgy, so running in it was out of the question. I decided to put my jogging bra on under the swimsuit and was planning on wearing my running underwear under the swimsuit too, but that morning, I decided it would be nice to put on dry underwear for the bike ride. I practice changing out of my swimsuit and putting on my running underwear (think boy shorts) underneath my towel. It worked perfectly, and I was able to change from my swimsuit to all my running gear in about 90 seconds. Perfect transition for a first timer. I ate a small breakfast, drank a bunch of water, got all my stuff out to the car and had my mom take me over and drop me off around 7. 

I got tagged with my number, 774, on both my arms and my age got stamped on my calf. All with permanent marker. Something I can't get off very well. Oh well. 

I went over and set up my bike, and probably set up my clothes 6 or 7 times and then hung out with Laura and Becky until it was time to head to the pool. 

It was finally time. The three of us, and 900 other competitors headed over to the pool in all of our swimsuit glory. Now I'm no Michael Phelpes in the pool, or my friend Becky for that matter, but I'm decent. The last time I timed myself (a month ago) I could finish in about 9 minutes. But I was nervous because I had never swam it in 50 meter laps, only 25 meter laps. So I placed myself with the other 9-10 minute swimmers. Laura stayed with me and Becky was at the front with the 6 minute swimmers. Finally they announced it was time and the first two swimmers were in the pool. These girls were pros. You could tell. For the first 5 minutes the women knew what they were doing and were all fast. Then I women got in and started doing backstroke. She was much slower than the women around her and started to back things up. We watched as more and more women got in, who had obviously lied about how fast they were, and created blocks in the pool that were impossible to pass. Then some women got in began running in the shallow ends creating more blocks for those women who could actually swim! 

I started to realize that I had placed myself with swimmers who were most likely going to be too slow. But I was still hopeful that being towards the back there wouldn't be as much congestion. Finally it was my turn. I stepped over the mat to active the tracking device on my ankle and jumped into the pool. The first 100 meters were a breeze I was so happy I hadn't run into anybody at all and was super excited to not have to worry about it. I was swimming away when suddenly somebody's feet were right in front of me. So I checked to see if I could go around them. Four women were backed up behind one slow swimmer. There was no way I was getting around. So I waded (ha, get it waded instead of waited, which in this case is totally true) until we all got to the wall. At the wall I was trying to create a little space so I could actually swim again, but then suddenly more slow swimmers were passing me. I had no choice but to swim again. It was frustrating, and tiring since I kept running into feet and couldn't really swim at all. Ughh. Live and learn. 

Finally I finish. I jump out of the pool and grab my stuff and head over to the transition area. On the way I begin stripping off my swimsuit and get it down to around my waist. I get to my bike and drop my stuff. I put my running top on over my lovely, wrinkled post baby shriveled balloon stomach and make sure the towel is tight around my waist  so I can strip and put on my jogging underwear. Easy right, I had practiced this. Wrong. I forget to take in to account the fact that I would be wet, and that my swimsuit would be clinging to me for dear life. It probably took me 5 minutes to pry the stupid thing off while trying to maintain some sense of decency/privacy under the towel. Once I got it off I began to put on my running shorts, guess what? That didn't go so well either due to the fact that I was dripping wet. I probably wasted a full 10 minutes in this transition.

Next time I will be much smarter, or get a triathlon suit. So I'm finally dressed, I grab my bike, strap on my helmet and start heading out. Suddenly I realize I don't have a clue how to change the gears on this bike I rented and have never ridden. I start looking for a dial or switch or anything to change the gears. Nothing. So I ask somebody and she shows me a little lever hidden under the brakes on each handle. 

Awesome. I'm ready to go. I jump on my bike and start pedaling. The bike is in first gear and so for 90 rotations of my legs I'm going two feet. At least it felt like it. One woman passed me and tried to encourage my by yelling "Come on! you can do it! Don't give up now, push!" Thanks lady for that. I started trying to switch the gears and finally got it to a level that got me going a respectable speed with every pedal. Then came the hills. They weren't huge, but one was a decent size. On the first one I tried to drop the gears, but ended up raising them instead. Awesome. I got to the bigger hill and was probably in gear 6 or 7. I was pushing with everything I had, and when I got 20 feet from the crest of the hill I could barely get my bike to move. So i got off and walked up the rest of the hill. At the top I jumped on again and began trying to figure out how to drop the gears, only to accidentally raise them yet again. So by this time I'm at a 9. Super awesome. So I'm riding along and I see a sign that says bikes then an arrow pointing to the right. So I turn right. Suddenly I'm the only one on the street, but I didn't really think too much of it until I got to the end of the street to see bikers coming from the north. I had gone off course. I wasn't sure by how much, and I thought great, I will probably be disqualified. I considered back tracking and getting back on the proper course, but I thought I probably wasn't too far off so I just jumped right back in where I was. I zoomed down the hill trying to make up for any lost time. My gears were still stuck at 9 which gave me an extra push while going down the hill, and I decided to leave them since I knew I had to do the hill again but didn't want to risk making the hill even harder on myself. I raced through the second loop, and yes, I had to walk the last 20 feet of the hill again, but I flew down the hill again. It was a nice break and my favorite part of the whole thing. :) 

I got back to the transition area, put my bike away took off my helmet and started running. I made it about 30 yards when something felt off. I was suddenly having a hard time breathing.  This completely caught me off guard. When I finished the bike I wasn't tired or out of breath at all! So I tried to calm down, get control of my breathing and started walking. I tried breathing through my shirt, but it wasn't helping. I could tell I was beginning to panic and in my head I was thinking, I'm not going to be able to finish if I can't get this under control. It was getting worse, and suddenly it sounded and felt like I was trying to breath through a coffee straw. I could barely get enough air to walk. So I turned around and started back towards the tents to find a medic. On my way back I heard someone call my name. It was Laura's husband Jim. I thought, oh good, he can find help for me. As he got closer he began to tell me that Laura wasn't too far behind me, I cut him off and between gasping for air told him I was having an asthma attack. He came over to help me and a guy sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of the street suddenly jumped in and said, "I have an inhaler, you want it?" I looked at him and shook my head. I took that first breath and it was amazing. Everything relaxed and I began to be able to get air again. I took a second long breath with the inhaler and I my lungs and throat were completely open again. It was amazing. I thanked the man and told him he was a life saver! I was so thankful for a stranger to who helped me out. I didn't have an inhaler because it's been almost 10 years since I've had an attack this bad. I have been running, biking, and swimming every week for three months so it wasn't like I wasn't used to what I was doing. I was so caught off guard, but was saved by using a strangers inhaler. I love that man for making it so I could finish. 

Once I caught my breath I began walking. Once I could feel I wasn't struggling I decided to try running again. I was a little nervous to have another one, but I knew my body could do it. I ran to the base of each hill and then walked up, just to be safe. At one point I thought to myself, I can't do this ever again. Before I could even finish the thought, I yelled at myself saying, you'll do another one of these, you know you can finish. The day before I found out that we weren't allowed to listen to music during the bike and the run. No music during the bike, fine. But during the run? I was pretty sure My negative self talk would overcome my body. But as I was running I was amazed at how clear my head was. I wasn't counting the number of songs I had run to in order to figure out how long I had been running for, I had actually been thinking about whatever I wanted, and how good I was feeling. I actually ENJOYED running with out music, and just with myself.  I ran in my new awesome shoes Chris gave me for Mother's day, Nike Free 4.0 (amazing), and as I was rounding the last corner one of the race workers said, "You're almost there! Just a bit more than a mile left and it's all down hill!" Wahoo!!!! I could totally do that! So I ran. It was so fun! As I came up on the last stretch I could see the top of the finish arch. It took everything in me to not sprint towards it. I knew I was still too far to sprint the whole distance without getting super tired, and I wanted to sprint at the end. I finally came down the last stretch and hundreds of people were cheering us on. It was reenergizing. I sprinted towards the finish and when I crossed the finish line I almost burst into tears, and then I couldn't breath again. Lame. Luckily I got it under control with out any medical help this time. My glorious moment ruined by my lungs, almost. It was still glorious actually.

Me Crossing the finish line. Not the girl on the right. 

Sprinting to finish.

I have never been more proud of myself. 

Becky and I at the finish line! 

My sweet dad brought me a big bouquet of flowers. I love him. 

Glad to be done

Me and Laura on the podium. Couldn't find Becky, but we were so proud of ourselves! 

My Mom. She is so wonderful. I couldn't have done it without her help. She and my mother-in-law Connie are more of my biggest supporters! 

My biggest supporter. Chris flew back from New Orleans that morning and sped from the airport to get there in time to see me 5 minutes after I finished. 

My time was 1:38:06.5. My first transition was 9 minutes. My swim was 11. Lame. Those two things killed me. I placed 19th in my division. There were over 50 competitors in my division. I'm already trying to figure out another one to do. Maybe the River Rampage June 30th? Or there are a few in August that look fun. Chris and I are going to do one together later this summer. Anyone interested?