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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

My First Triathlon

We won our division!

Pondering my last swim. The Newton's 8Hour Triathlon was a relay that I did with my friend and training partner, Scheri!! Marc and I picked her up at 5:30 AM to drive up to Denver. I had been sleep deprived because I had a sinus infection...which has not been faded by two rounds of antibiotics. So I was up and ready to go. I had never wanted to do a tri before, but since it was a relay, I was up for trying something new. We had no real expectations, just have fun. Of course we wanted to do well and win our Female - Team of Two division, but that was secondary to having fun. When we arrived, we signed in and got our packets. We are required to complete our first cycle in order - swim, bike, run. I had the privileged of doing the first swim. Marc and Scheri have already experienced a mass swim start, so they thought it was only fair that I get to experience it too. I handed off to Scheri in great time. She took off on the bike, not being familiar with the course at all. She returned and handed off to me for the run. (Now I must tell you...the only conversation that Scheri and I had throughout the day took place in a notebook or for 2-3 seconds in the transition area.) From there we continued handing off for runs and bikes. We were doing very well, but it started getting hot. When I got too hot, we decided we wanted to swim.

Scheri did her first swim, while I got ready for a run. I headed over to the transition area after about 10 minutes...about the amount of time it took me to do a swim and waited for Scheri to come in. I waited and waited and waited...and started to worry! I thought Scheri died in the water. Finally, after about a half hour, Scheri pulled herself through the shoot and into transition. She was barely breathing. When I got back from my run, she jumped on her bike. We continued a few more bike legs and then I started a long swim. Originally, I was going to do 2 or 3 swims to catch us up...but ended up swimming until the end. If I were thinking, I would have done two swims, then biked, then swam two more...but I wasn't thinking. Scheri attempted to swim again. The second swim went slightly better, but not real well. At this point, she had my parents, my family, her family, and me watching from the shore. Harsha told me that "she is kind of crooked, so maybe she shouldn't do anymore." From there, Scheri rode and rode, and I swam.

We were running out of time and HAD to do our last leg in order for the legs to count. We knew that it took about 36 minutes for a ride and 10 minutes for a swim...Scheri came in on the bike, after a fall, and we had about 45 minutes left. I asked Harsha if I should relax or go for it. He said, "GO FOR IT!!!" I went out and gave it everything I had. I wasn't able to put my face in the water on the previous swims, and wasn't worried because my time was still decent. Finally on this last lap, I beared down and with my heavy breathing creating a pattern, I was able to put my face in the water! Major accomplishment. I got in at 7:25:56 and told Scheri to give it everything. (I knew she would...we have similar hearts when it comes to competing and I knew she would dig deep and do what she could.) She had to complete the 5th leg in under 34 minutes. She gave it her all. She was just a few minutes over, so it didn't count...but we both said if we wouldn't had tried, we would have always wondered. (My swim counted, just not the ride.) All of our wonderful crew was there cheering on to the end. We were very proud of our successful day. Most people go out and do one tri, but we did almost 7 together, as a team!