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| Out of the water |
My first triathlon is in the books. I have to admit this was much more difficult than I anticipated. I experienced some major anxiety on the course and had to remember to breathe a few times! All in all it was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I did this prior to Wildflower.
The morning started EARLY… I of course couldn’t sleep the night before and I think I finally was able to pass out at 11:00 pm only to wake up at 3:00 am, one hour earlier than my alarm was scheduled to go off. The excitement fueled me to fly out of bed after all, this moment was the one I had been waiting for. I have put in hours and hours of running, swimming, biking and gym time because I wanted to become a triathlete. My mind was all over the place, did I eat enough the night before? Do I have everything packed in my bag? I think I went through my pre-race check list 5 times the night before just to be sure.
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| Onto the bike. |
There I was ready to get started and I didn’t even think twice. I hopped in the water and swam out to the start line. Then we were off. I was swimming trying to stay calm and right away I took a foot to the face, it filled my goggles up with water and nervousness kicked in. I remember thinking “Do I belong here?” with a quick reply of “HELL YA!” As the swim went on I became more and more comfortable. I need to work on swimming in the right direction but I made it to the end without any other difficulties. I got out of the water darted up the boat ramp, stopping to kiss my 3 year old son who got upset that I got him all wet, into the transition station and off with the wetsuit and onto the bike. This is the most difficult part for me, I am slower than most on a bike and this is the area I have the least amount of practice and experience, so I did my best and pushed myself to do the 16 mile hilly course in just over an hour. Then came the run perhaps the easiest part of the whole thing, because mentally I knew I was almost there. I racked my bike slipped on my shoes and off I went to wrap up my first of many triathlons. I completed the whole thing in 2hours and 1 minute. My goal was to be done in less than two hours, however I am very pleased with my accomplishment.
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| To the finish line! |
I have a whole new found respect for anyone that has done this or plans on doing it. It’s much more difficult than one would expect. I went into this thinking it would be just like a training day, boy was I wrong. Perhaps it was the pressure, or the nerves but it was much harder than anticipated but I was prepared. Wildflower is twice the distance of the one I completed on this Saturday with much more elevation changes on the bike course and it’s only two weeks away! I earned this and am so happy to have completed it . These last few weeks have been tough and I found myself in a funk with regard to food choices but I am working past that. I know what needs to be done and feel very good about what the next few weeks hold. It’s very unlikely that I will make that goal of racing Wildflower as a 225 pound man but either way, I am racing in Wildflower as a man that I once dreamt of becoming. My life will never be the same as it was 11 months ago. I will not let that happen! The amount of support from my family, friends, readers of this blog and pure strangers has been nothing short of amazing. I am so blessed to be showered with support and eager to see what the future holds. A few things are for sure about this weekend. I left UVAS reservoirs in Morgan Hill, CA with a whole new respect for Triathletes, I am addicted to Triathlons and I have A LOT of work to do to become an IronMan!
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| 2/3 of my inspiration |
A special thank you to my wife Meghan, y grandfather and mom for waking early with the two boys to watch me take on this new found passion. I know it was not easy to get the boys out of bed that early in the morning but having you all there meant the world to me! I love you and am so grateful to have you in my life.
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| The Glory! |
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