I Am 1/4 Triathlete!

Today was the big day!  Of course I had to get a sinus infection last Friday which took me out of the pool for four days.  C'est MA vie.  I woke up at 5:30 so I could get to the rec center a little after 6 in the morning.  To get in the pool for a quick warm up, I needed to have my number written on my arm.  13.  Thirteen!  My family has a long standing relationship with this number, so I felt a little empowered!  Jason and Jackson arrived just in time for my heat and this is the picture he snapped.  The only picture (good thing other people had cameras!).

He did have a very nice reason for only taking one picture.  He was keeping track of my splits and feeding Jackson, and I was just glad that they both got there in time!  I taught at the same school as Bryant, the guy behind me, a few years ago.  Random, yet fun, that we ended up swimming next to each other.  Before I go on, check out my shoulders!  I mean, I knew I had broad shoulders, but come on!  I think I have broader shoulders than Bryant, and half of the guys in the pool for that matter.  No wonder I have issues with clothes fitting correctly!

The race photographer took some good pictures of me while I was swimming, so I'm going to order one and I'll post it later.  Marianne, one of my teammates, snapped a few too.

Please note, I am swimming from the outside of the lane to the middle to do my flip turn.

Okay, I would be hugging the right side of the lane, but as you see, someone is there already.  Do I seem like a sour patch kid?  Really, I'm not, but the swimmer in the white cap would never get out of the way to let us pass him!  I kept tapping his feet, but he would never move.  Well that is not true, sometimes he would move closer to the middle of the lane, making any attempt of passing impossible.  Most of the time I had to take my opportunity at the walls and sprint by him.  Maybe he lost feeling in his feet from carrying children across a lake in the dead of winter to safety, in which case, I feel bad.  Anyway, my goal was to finish in the 20 minute range or less since I started swimming again about a month ago.  My time was 20:38, and knowing that I could have gone faster and possibly been close to 19 minutes is great!  I did it!  Next year, my goal is to complete it in the 17 minute range.

Elise was our first runner, I tagged her out of the pool, but because I went to get dressed, I didn't get any pictures.  Marianne was our second runner, and here she is dashing to the finish!

Here is Nicole, our finisher! 

We ended up getting second place for female age division 72-160 (just know our combined ages fit within this range, no more details necessary).  I had a great time, and it gave me the perfect excuse to get back in the pool.  Thanks girls!