Try a Tri....

Two weekends ago..father's day to be exact... Tom and I completed our first triathlon together. Now when I say together I mean the same race. Not holding hands like some of you may think.... If you have followed our blog you might be thinking wait I have heard this before... Well you have.. Two years ago we were training for our first Olympic triathlon. However... we unable to compete because we were in Ethiopia bringing home our son. A wonderful trade off to say the least. But that dang tri was still hanging over our heads. Tom has done several and finished well. The boy is tall and can swim! Still he was pressing me to join him.
Training for the Olympic tri was tricky but I was excited about doing it so I was somewhat faithful to a workout that included all three elements. This time I was chasing three kids.. cussing my hubs for signing me up and refusing to swim first thing in the morning. With two weeks to go I decided to swim in our local pool and see just how swimmy I was feeling. Now I don't know about your public pool but our pool in the city has both posted and unposted rules. There is one slow lane and one fast lane and three other lanes that just say circle swim. I could post a whole entry on the verbal fights (in various languages) that have taken place in the handful of times I have been there.. but the pool itself is great. After one attempt at a swim I found myself thinking I can not quit.. even if I die I would feel like the biggest lame O if I did not stick it out. Not to mention how much money these dang things are! So if nothing else I at least wanted my shirt!
Attending packet pickup to get our numbers..swim cap.. and rack our bikes. I thought...OH SHEET... NO turning back now.. As we opened our information we noticed we had to arrive at 3AM to catch a shuttle. I have to admit it was fun to be up with Tom before the sun getting ready to "compete" in our first race together. Tom's heat went into the water nearly 25 minutes before me. (for those of you who don't know its swim.. bike.. run) So as I am standing there in a swim suit with my age in a black permanent marker on my calf.. which by the way is quite humbling.. especially when Tom's age is four years my junior according to them... my heart is racing.. and not in the good way. They lead our heat to the edge of the sweet Potomac River (ohhhhh ack!) and into the water we go. As we tread water for three minutes or so waiting for the gun to send us out I am thinking my legs are tired and that turn around point looks further away.. is it floating...
The gun goes off and legs and arms start to fly.. It's swim or get swum on.. I start off freestyle then breast ( i can't see and i am swimming in zig zags..) then freestyle then breast stroke... Wait I am forgetting to breath.. my goggles are foggy.. I get hit in the head... the person in front of me is screaming for a canoe to come and get her.. dear God it is as if I am fleeing a war scene. Okay so that my friend is merely my point of view as a newbie who forgot or refused to train (which I would NOT suggest). When I rounded the last turn and could see the ramp to get out of the water I swam faster than I ever had before. I made it! I was out of the water and jogging towards my bike. In my head I am thinking I know now I can at least finish. And I did. And sweet Tom was waiting for me at the finish. I will do another one... and this time I will prepare.