about 50 some-odd minutes later, i found myself rounding the final u-turn and heading into the scary dismount area....and somehow i didn't fall, even though i unclipped my left foot first, which i never do...and suddenly i was racking my bike and had different shoes on. seriously don't remember that transition AT ALL. just happy i tied my laces :).
i ran right on out of there and guess what...the fam was right there! how good are they?! serious tri spectating pros!! my calves started cramping once i hit the road and i got a little lazy. i think i could ride a bike all day but if i'm running i tend to talk myself into slowing down. thankfully there were tons of amazing volunteers cheering everyone on...someone actually yelled 'run pippi run' at me, haha, just the pep talk i needed to move those feet faster! i wanted to hug them all, but my pace was already way off so i just found a good group to run with and kept trucking. sang a little coldplay to myself, and unfortunately "the song that doesn't end" popped into the brain for about a mile, skipped over that to some jack johnson and topped off the mental playlist with foo fighters...amazingly resisted the urge to sing out-loud!
the home stretch was FINALLY in sight!! the fact that my hair had dried and no longer provided me any cooling action to combat my ever-rising temperature was pushed to the back on my brain...the fact that my toes were starting to go numb was ignored...the fact that i didn't know if my skin was covered in dirt from the river or dried sweat made me laugh instead of vom....because i could SEE the finish line!! i was THERE!!! and so i found every last ounce of energy stored inside me and ran as fast as i possibly could over the timing mat....funny joke since it was about 20 feet in front of the actual final timing mat....jerks...haha so slowed down for about 3 steps, figured it out (along with the rest of the group around me) and took that final step. YAY!!
thank you volunteer for the participant medal...thank you other volunteer for the water bottle which i was incapable of opening...thank you final volunteer for taking off my timing chip because there was no way bending over was in my immediate future! found the crew, tried to regain consciousness and looked up to see the race clock at 2 hours and 1 minute and some seconds. which i translated to mean that i finished my other, set within the last 2 weeks goal....i completed my first tri in under 2 hours!!! i don't think i could've been more overwhelmed if i tried!! for the record...official time was 1:58:18. Holler!
Such a fantastic feeling, such a wonderful experience....and all that before 10am!! Hmm...now which one do i sign up for next?!?
1 comment:
Dude good for you. That's amazing, you're a trooper.
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