i didnt finish last!

for everyone that knows me you are probably really laughing now! 1. i have not been too physically active for about 10 years. 2. i have never been in a canoe with peter. 3. i have not seriously rode a bike...ever. i have not been on a bike consistently since 5th grade! what was i thinking????!!!!!

ok, so the deal is peter and i did the triathlon!!!! yep, last sunday...i am just recovering!! the above pics are AFTER the big race when we got home. we didnt take our camera or have anyone take any pics of us. i honestly thought that there would be people at the the finish line taking some for us...oh well...as you can see we survived...and didnt place last!!! ok, so here is the breakdown...

we left our house last sunday at 7:15, got down to the race area at 7:45, thinking that would give us plenty of time for our 8:38 start time. we were WRONG!!!! thankfully there were some serious thunderstorms when we got there which gave us a one hour delay. yes...the storms cleared out very quickly and we ended up with GREAT weather...sunny, 75 but very windy...fun for the bike of course! :) so, back to the beginning...we walked about 3/4 of a mile from our car to the bike staging area to set things up. then then walked down "killer hill", which we knew we would run up to finish our race...i was secretly freaking out before the race even started! lets just say, i am not sure how i stayed upright, for real! i saw so many people that had mud stains on their butts! this is not a paved road...it is barely a trail with tree roots to use to pull yourself up the 45 degree incline and then there are about 50 steps to climb to finish...yes, we went down that and then walked another 1/2 mile to the canoe start line...yep, took us a while to get things ready and set! :)

we started at exactly 9:38. every two minutes a group of 6 canoes starts the race...there were over 1200 people involved in the race!! so, peter say behind me during the canoe race and we paddled hard, but didnt kill ourselves, we knew it would be a long day! surprisingly, we didnt get into any "disagreements" during the canoe race (6miles) or any of the race for that matter...i know, not typically me, but i had prayed all week that i would keep my temper and unsportsman like conduct in check :)  the hard thing about the whole thing is that you never see any clocks or times during the race until the finish line. neither peter or myself wore a watch, but we felt like we did well for the canoe portion...about the only time we werent being passed by 100s of people! 

as we finished the canoe race we took a few min. to change from our reef flip flops to our running shoes...we had a pretty good transition, not pausing to do more that what we had to to get back on the race. the next stage is the run (5.5miles). basically, you run back to the canoe area and up to the bikes. before the race even started peter and i had decided that we would walk the run part. partly because my kness had given me so many problems during training, partly because we didnt train enough for this first experience. again, we have no idea how long it took us, but we kept a good pace the whole time. there were a few small hills, nothing major until for real the last half mile which is appropriately called "killer hill" as mentioned above. lets just say this...people have asked me if i would do this race again. the only reason i would not do it is becuase of this hill. IT WAS AWFUL!!!!! by the time i got to the top i was more than out of breath, dripping sweat and exhausted...and they want to get on a bike??? YEAH RIGHT!!! plus i had to pee like no ones business and the only thing available was nasty porta-potties...gross, i dont even like to go in public restrooms that ladies use...these are toilets that every sweaty person in the race uses and they have been sitting in the sun for days...awesome! however i knew that i would fail if i didnt go...i guess that was the least of my worries for the day, it just seemed like a big deal after killer hill!

after a few cups of warm powerade, a granola bar and a trip to the big orange mobile toilet, peter and i got on our bikes for 18 miles!! yep...i rode my bike for 18 miles!!! the bike really was not bad at all, i was just SUPER slow!!! poor peter...he had to wait for me alot during this part of the challenge and he is a saint for it! the course was flat and through the cornfields, but SUPER windy!!! i am pretty sure my toes were numb before mile 6, but i just kept creepin along! 

months before the race i had asked peter to stay with me the whole race, to not leave me behind..i had several reasons, but basically i just didnt want to do the race alone. he of course said he would and he did more than stick with me...he trained with me for several months prior, he kept me excited up til race day, calmed my nerves the day of, and encouraged and supported me the WHOLE time!!! he came behind me when i needed a boost and came ahead of me to lead when things were uncertain! we knew that the race would be a big test for us and our marriage and i can honestly say i have never been more sure or excited about us than i have through this whole process!! as we came up to the finish line we had to dismount our bike and walk them across the line...we came in at the same time...side by side...smiling the whole time! about 30 seconds later i started crying...from appreciation and love that peter did more than he promised, from excitement that we finished alive, and from pure exhaustion!! eventually i calmed down and stripped out of my sweaty clothes to change and go enjoy some food and live music.

a week later i still feel so blessed that peter and i were able to do this challenge together and say that we survived. it took us 4 hours and 9 minutes...could have been better, but we FINISHED!!! so, thank you to all who encouraged and supported us and who care enough to read this...i know its long!! :) p.s. i treated peter and i to massages today...nice perk of post race recovery!! :)

blessings, ALo