Triathlon

I SURVIVED!!!!

This past Saturday I participated in the Layton Triathlon.....Mini Triathlon, but a triathlon none the less.

I headed up there Friday night and met my friends to get my packet with my racing number, and get my body markings. (I felt really fancy walking around with this number scrawled down my arms and the back of my legs :) ) Plus, I got a T-shirt! Its not the fanciest shirt there ever was, but it proves that I was involved :)

After we got all of our papers in order we headed to Olive Garden to fill up on a carb-filled meal to give us energy in the morning. I'm not sure if that kind of thing really works or not, but I like to believe that it does, so that every bite of that pasta is for a valid purpose.

We headed back to Kelly's house, because we figured it would be better to sleep at her house so that we wouldn't have to get up as early in the morning to be at the race. Well, the idea was good, but it didn't really happen that way. We stayed up late talking, laughing, and having some EXTREMELY interesting conversations, but it was SO much fun to be with these girls. I love their guts!!!

Despite the late night, and the early morning start (6:00am), we headed to the race all pumped up. I found out that most triatheletes don't swim, so our little group started off the ENTIRE triathlon! It was a complete adrenaline rush!!

It is hard to tell what is going on in this picture, but this is where we started the triathlon, and in the pool you can see a little group of heads in the pool by the wall.....thats us!!

These pictures are slightly out of order. The next few are of us getting ready for the triathlon.

Getting our numbers pinned on.....

We are were really excited about the numbers on our arms :)

And this is us after we all finished the triathlon... champions!! (Seriously though, my friend Anna took 1st place over all in the womens!!!)

The energy in the racing atmosphere is amazing! You can feel the adrenaline running through everyone else, and it pumps you up even more. We started off with the swimming, which went really well, and then we headed to the biking. I was about half-way through the biking portion, and the gears on the bike stopped working. I was in the middle of a neighborhood, so I pulled off to the side, luckily right in front of a couple that was having a yard sale. Somehow a shoe lace had become tangled in the gears of the bike, and made it so I couldn't even peddle. I was at a loss of what I was going to do. I was starting to think that I wouldn't be able to finish the race and I was frustrated that this was happening, and to be honest, I was getting a little teary-eyed. But, this sweet man who was having the yard sale ran inside his house had brought out some scissors and his tool box, and sat and helped me unscrew parts of the bike, and cut the shoelace out of the gears. I was so thankful to him for being willing to help me! Such a beautiful act of service to me. I really hope he knows how thankful I am to him. He was such a great guy! And, not only did he spend the time helping me, but he didn't even make me clean up the mess, he just said, "Go! Don't worry about it, I can clean it up. Good luck!!". Such a sweet man.

From then on it went really well. The rest of the biking was great, and the run was on a paved path that went along side a little stream, and was for the most part covered in shade. The best part was when I crossed the finish line. It was kind of like a scene out of a movie....All of my friends were cheering for me, and running behind me as I crossed over the line. Such a sense of accomplishment! I felt great!! I was so proud of myself for finishing. When I decided to do this I figured I could do it once, and then check it off my bucket list and never have to do it again. But after finishing this one, I WANT to do it again! I loved the feeling I got while doing it. My friends and I decided that we are going to do this every year. I can't wait until next year!