Tri On!

This was started on May 24, 2012. I've been busy!

I headed up to Utah this passed Thursday to be with my sister to do our triathlon. Friday morning I woke up earlier than I had planned on, but that's what happens when you are switching from nights to days. I read through some of my emails as I was in bed. I had recieved one from the people doing the triathlon. They had some rules to read and some othere stuff. At the bottom they listed some women of steel and what they had to go through to get there. When we signed up they asked why are you a woman of steel and what did you have to overcome to be here. When I was reading the email I realized I was one of the people that they quoted. I said, "I have had to over come the pains of endometriosis every day while training. I also have precancerous cells on my cervix that I am battling with multiple procedures while training as well. It has been difficult to do, but I'm doing it!" When I saw this I started to cry. I almost forgot what I had to go through to get to this point in time. I was also crying because someone thought I was a woman of steel and recognized my battles as being worth writing down. Later that morning, my sister and I, went on a small bike ride just to get the bikes ready and make sure we were really ready for what was in store for us Saturday morning. Friday night we picked up our packets and saw where we were to put our bikes and get everything settled. I remember being so super scared. Saturday morning I woke up earlier than I had planned, but that was okay. It gave me time to get my mind in gear before the big race. I listened to my ipod and just took things easy. My sister woke up and we got everything ready to go.

At 8 am we were huddled up with 844 other people next to the pool. It was PURE CHAOS! There were 2 seperate lines on each end of the pool and people were entering the pool every 15 seconds. There were so many people that people were walking instead of swimming because there was no possible way to pass someone. Finally it was our turn. My sister went first and I followed shortly behind her. Once we finished it we went to the transition zone. On the way to the transition we saw her husband and kids screaming and yelling for us! It was so much fun. I love them all so much! In the transition zone my sister and I were not next to each other because it was done by age. I looked up as I was changing and putting on my shoes to see her taking her bike down. I thought she still had her shoes to put on and thought I would be next to her. I was wrong. I fell behind again because my helmet had some issues when I first attempted to put it on. Finally I got out of the gate and heard my fan club cheering me on! When I got on my bike it was a crazy feeling. I made it up the first hill okay, but the second (the hill of death) was a big DUZY! People were running the hill faster than I was biking. No joke! BUT... I kept going. I kept pushing the dumb pedals. On the downhill part I really was able to pick up some time and it felt so good to fly. I started my second loop of the bike. Once again I got to the hill of death and someone said "Keep going AZ" (since I had AZ sisters dare to Tri on my shirt.) I made up the dumb hill again and then eventually flew down the last part. Oh I have to add.. While I was riding I decided I need to eat something. All I had planned to eat was this grano.la bar with pb and chocolate. BAD IDEA FOLKS! The p.b. and chocolate did not go well with my saliva and everything else going on. Do NOT ever attempt to eat that during a Tri! Anyways...

The transition to the run was easy. Basically you get off your bike and run next to it until you rehang it. The rehanging it is the hard part because your muscles feel all crazy. I made it out to do the run. I tried really hard to run and did the best I could. I ended up walk/running it. It honestly was the best I could do. As I rounded the last corner where there was 100-200 yards left I saw my sister running towards me. I was choaking back my tears which made it even more hard to breathe in that altitude with no inhaler (oops!) It was very emotional to have my sister finish with me. She came back for me after she finished just like she said she would. We finished together hand in hand! I have never been so proud in my LIFE!!!!

There was a few times when I was pretty emotional through out the course. So many things were running through my mind to keep me going such as... I'm doing this! No one else is making do this. I'm doing this all by myself! I'm actually doing this! This is real life! EFF endo! You will not beat me! You will not give me pain! I will beat you! I am doing this!

I am just so proud of myself. As I was finishing up the biking portion and was flying down that hill for the last time I was thinking about another time when I was really proud of myself and felt this same way. When I was 19 I won a pageant and it was quite a big deal to me. I remember the feeling of I did this. No one gave me this, but I earned it! That's exactly how I felt. I earned the right to say I did a triathlon!

I am so proud of my sister and myself. She finished the race 30 minutes faster than she had a previous race she had done. I finished 10 minutes behind my sister in this race. I know our times aren't that fabulous, but I'm still very proud of them. She achieved 1:39 and I was 1:49. I just can't get over the fact that we did this!

After the race was over Andrew, my sisters husband, and the kids were all there to greet us and give us hugs! They too were also proud of us. We were pretty sore, but ate some fruit they gave us and then rode the bikes the mile back to their house. The rest of the day we relaxed and then went to a lunch to celebrate how awesome we are!

I hope that I can keep up my training and do another one someday. However... I have to buy a bike. With me going back to school I'm not sure if a bike is in the budget as of right now.