Triathlon

Swim: Done!

Bike: Done!

Run: Done!

I ran my race. I met and beat my goals. But most importantly, I had a BLAST!!!  I felt good, focused, energized, pumped up, and luckily all things ran smoothly for me before, during, and after the race :-). I am so happy to have taken this opportunity, so happy to have "tri"-ed, so tired but so grateful for all the love and support I got from my biggest fans: Hrishi and Ellie, my trainer John, my parents, and friends! Words can't describe the joy. I am just grateful and humbled to have had this first tri experience, to have swum, biked, and run side by side ordinary folks just like me, not born with innate athletic abilities, but self-taught and willing. It was inspiring, to say the least.

It was fun and exciting to have my sweethearts there with my by the poolside, one timing my laps on his iphone, the other watching mommy go swim crazy :-) Haha! The thing is that they let people walk too, and not swim the whole time if the needed a break. So I did a few "laps" like that. LOL! [To date, I can swim about 7 or 8 clean laps.] Anyway, this lady from our ward who was just leaving the pool area right before my wave start, came back and cheered for me in the middle of the lane and handed me a dry towel when I came out. She was awesome! The funniest thing is though I didn't realize who she was although she looked familiar until Ella pointed out that she is from church!! (Well, all the time I spent in Nursery would explain that!! :-))

Having Hrishi and Ella there the whole entire time through transitions and at the beginning of each leg was amazing! I couldn't have done it without them: thumbs-up and big smiles from across the gym, along with my gatorade were all I needed to keep going.

Aren't they the sweetest??? I love them so so so very much! Thank you guys!!!

Before the swim

I've learned a lot about myself through these past few weeks for training. We are indeed capable of doing a lot more than we think we are. He is undoubtely always there to support and comfort in the middle of it all: swim breaths, kicks, bruised toes, aching calves and feet, through the calm and peace, as well through the stressful (a.k.a "freaking out") times. 

And a very nice surprise is that they were fast and furious with publishing the results, so here it is:
*I ranked 12th overall out of 43 participants (masters, over 40 yrs category + open, 12-39 yrs)
*5th open overall (men and women)
*3rd women open!! Yay! (Hrishi of course is the one who did this complicated math for me! ;-))

I really surprised myself with the biking distance and I am now dreaming of riding a racing bike outdoors sometime in the near future!! (Christmas is coming up, honey! Hint, hint!! ):-)
What's next? Well, I'm looking forward to it whatever it'll be. Run, run/bike, or adventure mud race???! The possibilities are endless. Going to bed very happy! Thank you all for the kind encouraging words all along. If I can do it, anyone can do it and that's a fact!