A year ago, I did my first Triathlon…the Nation’s Triathlon. Why? I watched my friend Becca do the DC Tri (after learning to swim AND ride a bike) for her first – she picked a challenge and made it happen. Then that heffa with a Cheshire grin looked at me and said – HEY! Why don’t you do Nation’s with me. Your fit, you already know how to swim, come on! SUCKER!!! I’m such a sucker for this ish. Sure, I said…but I don’t have a bike and I’m not going to spend a lot on a bike if I’m not sure that I’ll do this again. Becca, grinning from ear to ear (you just have to see all of her pictures – she get’s you EVERY SINGLE TIME with that damn grin) said no worries…I have a friend that has an extra bike…and a triathlete was born.
I did it! I SWORE (even used curse words) I would NEVER do this again. EVER. FUGG NO! And then I made the mistake of hanging my race bling from my dresser mirror and putting my race times up on the mirror.
I looked at that mess EVERY DAY. I kept thinking, I could do better. I just need a better bike. I could do better, I just need to come up with a plan – get some experience…blah,blah. So, I did a bunch of research and bought me a road bike (that I could afford) and then – if you have been following along – the rest is history.
Sunday, I did the Nation’s Triathlon again and even though they cancelled the swim (a good thing) it was a FABULOUS race. I had a great time and I felt like a ROCK STAR at the end as I knocked off 40 min from my bike time & 9 min from my run time over last year. GTFOOH!!!!
I repeat…40 MINUTES OFF 2010’S BIKE TIME, 9 MIN OFF 2010’S RUN TIME.
Just call me an ELITE ATHLETE. LOL. I am in my own mind because despite my SIGNIFICANT PR over last year, I still brought up the very rear and wasn’t anywhere near the top of the pack in my age group. I WAS in the top 3 for the Tri Club Challenge – HA! – with only 3 registered for that challenge. O_0. LOL.
BIKE: We started the race in our swim corrals. Approx. 15 of us at one time ran into transition to get our bikes and off we went. I thought I was doing something on the course with an avg 16 mph pace. NAW. I wasn’t doing SHYT! People were buzzing past me like I was just out for an afternoon ride. DAMN, PLAYA! One day, when I grow up, I’ll get me a for real bike and some for real muscles and bang out a 20 mph pace without so much as breaking a sweat.
One day…
I still knocked off 40 MINUTES from last year. YEAH BABY!!!
RUN: Yeah, so I diddle daddled in transition. I sat down to put my shoes on and to slather my legs in biofreeze. That stuff is the damn BOMB! I don’t know what got into me, but I felt like I was bookin’ it considering I sacrificed running to work on my swimming, didn’t do very many any bricks, and a bunch of other excuses. I did just above an Airborne Shuffle and felt good about it.
It meant the WORLD to me to see The FireMarshall about 500 m before the finish line cheering me on. “Come on Army, keep that pace up, take it in.” He rocks.
I want to thank my friends TheHurt, Maddy and all those at the TriUnify booth that called my BY NAME and cheered me on. I was so happy to see KarenM, that beauty in the picture above to the left – keep up the good work. Thank you to all of my friends that support me around the world…I see you…I hear you and it is appreciated. And of course, thank you Rebecca for grinning me into this…I love it…and I’m going to “grinn” my BFF Pattey into a race. She won’t even know what happened till it’s over.
I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!
