"You're killing it!"

That was one of my favorite cheers from this past weekend. Yes, race day finally came. Tri-babe Meg and I completed our Olympic triathlon in the scorching Chelan heat on Saturday morning. It was 3 hours and 9 minutes of fun, determination and effort until my sweat ran dry...literally dry. Luckily people along the run portion of the course stood out in their front drives with hoses to spray us down! I had wanted to finish in 4 hours...which was a generous amount of time taking into account mishaps along all three legs.

The swim was a bit tough at first. I started off strong but then all of a sudden freaked out and it took me a few minutes to catch my breath and get my face in the water again. At least the side stroke kept me moving forward! :) After I separated from the crowd I basically yelled at myself in my head saying "you better pull yourself together, this race has barely begun!" Once I got myself going I started passing people and finished feeling strong as I ran out of the water to my bike. The bike was fun. It was beautiful scenery and the hills were rolling, not steep like the ascent up 77th to my house! I hydrated and pushed myself as far as my legs could go....however, I didn't eat enough and my legs were exhausted at the end. So when I started the run I was trying to fight through my tired legs. My stomach was in a serious cramp...but I told myself "just keep running, just keeep running" kind of like Dori on Finding Nemo. As I was running up the hill just before the finish line all of my friends and parents were cheering me on and it felt so good to have the support...I couldn't stop smiling...except for when my headband fell off and I had to put it back on right before the finish line. i guess I could have left it off and shaved a couple seconds of my time...oh well, I'll have to remember for next time!

It's funny. I feel good about what I accomplished, but I always want more. I have to remind myself that I gave it my best and that's all I can ask of myself. Enough of this not feeling adequate. I trained and I crossed that finish line and as Phil would say "You are doing it, You are a triathlete!"