1:49:44

1:49:44 - my finish time for my first triathlon. Am I proud? Heck, yes! Did I have fun? Oh yes! Do I still, even after a long scrub in the shower, still have the four numbers on my legs and arms showing? Yes, but I wear them proudly.

So yesterday I was pretty much ready to give up. I was scared out of my mind, felt completely unprepared, and had no clue how I was going to handle all the transitions. The debriefing we went to did very little to alleviate my fears. But in all honesty, if you had heard the million and one rules we had to be aware of (have your chinstrap on your helmet fastened at all times when handling the bike, don't draft, don't linger on the left, rack your bike in the correct place), the three different course we had to know (sprint swimmers, follow the yellow triangle buoys, not the yellow circular ones, and remember to hang a left on Knoxville Road on the bike course), and all the other little bitty details (wetsuits will be legal, the ends of your handlebars must be plugged, you cannot wear an Ipod) you would not have felt any better either.

But as I got my three (!) bags ready last night, I started to feel a little better. On a side-note, the amount of stuff you need for a triathlon is amazing. As a runner by trade, I'm used to slipping on my shoes and heading out. A triathlon could not be further removed from that. Just for the first leg you need a special color swimcap, goggles, a swimsuit, and flipflops to take you to the first chute. Then you need your bike, a towel, helmet, glasses, gloves, socks, shoes, waterbottles and gel packs for the run and the bike ride. And that is not even counting all the back up tools, socks, powerbars and other ends and odds you will find yourself toting to the event.

This morning, after setting up my bike and gear in the transition area, and getting chipped and marked up, I was once again ready to kick some butt. Excuse me, KICK SOME BUTT! The sun was shining, the water was a nice 71F, and the women in our age group were all equally nice and helpful. I had so much fun swimming, biking and running, that on the first two legs, I had to tell myself to slow down a little bit, as I was worried I would waste all of my energy before the run. In fact, I liked it all so much, I think I have discovered my new addiction. I've already found another triathlon I want to do in October. And I'm actually thinking I may not want to wait that long. It's too much of a rush.

Husband-dear, who doubled as my coach, driver, personal mechanic, and cheerleader took a whole bunch of pictures, which I will try and get online tomorrow. For now, I am going to enjoy the post-tri-high.

Swim-Bike-Run! That's all there is to it.