Sunday, April 19, 2009

I've joined the club.

I am a triathlete!

Kayle and I woke up early this morning and tackled our first triathlon! We both finished in less than two hours (personal goal). Kayle came in just two minutes ahead of me having passed me on the bike.

Here are my times --
Swim: 11:22.55
T1: 05:32.20
Bike:56:47.60
T2:01:11.80
Run:38:56.80
Overall:1:53:50.95

I was pretty pleased with my run. As you all know, I'm an awful runner. As I was finishing, my mom told me I had 53 seconds to make it under two hours (she was clearly off), so I bolted. I passed two people in a few yards. I had thought the whole run that I wasn't sure if I was going to have a kick left in me, but apparently I did! I came in well under two!

Unfortunately, my joy was halted when I saw how poorly I did compared. Before you say anything, I know I was competing against myself and it was my first tri ever, but most of the people we talked to were also there for their first, so I shouldn't have been so slow compared to every other competitor. It just hit me so hard because I worked for so long and I know most of those people did NOT work harder than I did, but still beat me. I don't really feel like I excel in much, so it was just another blow for me. I never expected to win, but coming in nearly last isn't so cool. I know I should be happy that I finished a race and I had time I was originally happy with, but I go back and forth with my emotion about this thing.

Anyway, I'm utterly exhausted (4:45 a.m. is way, way too early for Miss Jessica). I'll have more details and pictures in the next few days!

Now that you know that unathletic Jessica can accomplish this goal, you know that you, too, can finish whatever you set your mind to!

4 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

CONGRATS!!! Welcome to the club. A tri is a personal race, everyone does this for their own reasons. All that matters is that you crossed the finish line, think of all the people that never even tried to complete one, all the people that thought the training was too hard and quit, all the people that could not finish. And look at it this way, you set a PR in that race!!! Good job!!!

Is this it for your tri life, or are you doing more races?

Again congrats!!!!!

Diane said...

Jessica,
Congrats on completing your first tri! I totally understand how you feel about coming in in the back of the pack. I had the same situation with my race. But we finished and that's what really counts! And now that you have a handle on what this is, you'll do much better next time. I know I will. I already see areas where I need to train differently for next time. By your next race, you'll do so well, other racers will be jealous of you. Keep up the great work!!!

http://gokristen.wordpress.com said...

Good job! You did it and that is what counts, only 2% of the population can call themselves a triathlete!

What were the distances?

Jessica said...

Thanks for the encouraging words!

Daddy: I'm thinking I want to do more. My New Year's Resolution was to do an Olympic by the end of the year, so I think I'll push for that. I was certainly bummed about my ranking, but when I remember thinking during the awful run, "this is the most amazing experience ever," I'm thinking I need to try it out again!

Kristen: 500m, 12 mile, 5k