I did it!

If you follow this blog at all, or have talked to me in the last 6 months or so, you already know that my first triathlon race was this weekend! It's not like I've kept that a secret or anything! In fact, I should wear my number all week, just in case someone somehow didn't get the memo and then will have to ask me about it! HA! Anyway... I DID IT!!!! And it felt GREAT!


Here are all the dirty details... and I mean ALL of them. You'll get a medal if you read the whole thing! Leave a comment to claim your prize! (Hey, I'm an Anderson... we tell stories!)


On Friday night, I met Paul up in Orem so I could pick up my race packet. Unfortunately, this packet didn't have anything super cool in it. Just a T-shirt that I intentionally ordered too small so the boys could use it as a night shirt. We already have SOOOOOOOOOOOO many t-shirts at our house because of Paul's many, many races. Anyway, turns out that it fit me (or at least I could put it on) and I wore it the rest of the night. Here's me wearing it. Probably the last time I'll do so. It's a little tight!
We went to dinner at Chuck-a-Rama and I ate a few things I usually skip (ie mashed potatoes and a scrumptious roll - they didn't have any pasta options for appropriate carb loading!) On the way home, Paul decided to pick up a movie from Redbox. Given the choices, we went with Twilight, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be... but because of that, we did get to bed a bit later than was wise. Before turning in, Paul helped me figure out everything that I needed to pack up in order to be ready to go in the morning. He really took care of everything, giving me no reason to stress! He was so awesome with this WHOLE THING! I did end up sleeping OKAY, but not great!





We woke up at 6:00, got out of bed at 6:20, and I got myself all dressed up in my gear while Paul packed up the car. I ate one good sized pancake with peanut butter on it and got some stuff ready for the boys. We got to the race site at about 7:30. The only scare I had was when Paul was pumping up my tires, the valve stem disassembled, completely deflating the tire. Not knowing if Paul was going to be able to fix it, he sent me to go find a spot at the transition area. By this point, the nerves were starting to kick in a bit! Thankfully, he was able to fix the tube and soon he joined me with my bike. Here's a pic of me getting stuff ready in the transition area.
I was excited to see how many of my family and friends were able (and willing) to come support my race! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, but I was able to give most of them a hug before we got started! Just to bore you (and to completely document the event for my own benefit), my "fans" included: Paul, Andy, Canon, Charlie, Emily Hollingshead, Steven & Rhyll, Luke McCausland and his parents, Bill and Arlette McC, Spencer & Melanie Croshaw, and Monica & Chris Arnold & Nina Sanchez. It was also nice to see the Shurians, and they cheered for me, but they were really there to support Chris! So a special thanks to those who were there in the cool weather, and another thanks to those of you who were there in spirit! I felt SO LOVED! Here's a pic of Chris, myself and Julie right before the run got started. I was wearing my Garmin GPS watch so I could keep track of how fast I was running, as well as a stop watch so I could track my total time. The Garmin wasn't in the right mode, so it wasn't telling me how far I'd already run, but it did tell me how fast I was moving. Once the race got started, I was keeping with the main crowd, but was freaking out about the pace they had set. I typically run right at about a 10 minute mile pace, but we were going between 8:00 and 8:30. Figuring there would be NO WAY I could maintain that kind of pace, I slowed myself down out of fear I'd completely wear myself out. The first 2 miles were really flat and then quite downhill. Starting the 3rd mile, we hit a pretty good uphill climb that you couldn't quite tell where the top was. I was able to keep running, but I slowed down quite a bit. Thankfully, it flattens out again before you head back toward transition. That's where this picture was taken of me with still about a half mile to finish the run. I realized, you just have no idea what to do as you pass a bunch of loved ones screaming for you! I gave them a thumbs up before blowing them a kiss! I finished the 5K in 27 min 32 sec. My fastest 5K time by 3.5 minutes! I was pretty stoked about that!
My transition to the bike, unfortunately, was stinkin slow. I decided to eat my "GU" during transition, just because I'd never practiced eating one while actually riding. This stuff is SUPER thick and difficult to swallow with a dry mouth. I took my water bottle off of my bike to help me wash it down, and then like an IDIOT... forgot to put it back. I realized my mistake pretty quick, since I was still thirsty, once I'd finally taken off on the bike portion. I got pretty worried at that point, but couldn't do anything about it. Occasionally I'd pass someone on the bike and just want to ask, "could I have a sip of your water?!" But I didn't. The first hill was tough (as I knew it would be) but I didn't get off and walk it (as I knew I wouldn't), but I did pull off on a side road just to reset for 5 seconds before finishing it off. I got to hear some more supportive screams when this picture was taken.
Lesson learned, don't try to communicate anything as you pass your camera! You end up making ugly faces! I was about to say, "meet me at the top of the hill with my water" but they didn't hear me! Oh well! At least I got a dorky looking picture... and there are more to come!




The second loop of the bike felt really good and I pushed it a little harder. I passed this one girl, then she passed me on a downhill section, and then I caught her again as we were climbing the hill. She asked how to best get up it and we talked a little as we pushed ourselves up the big booger. It was cool, though, because she said, "I'll just do what you do," which meant I couldn't chicken out at all. I ended up beating her to the top, but she passed me again once we flattened out. I was glad she pushed me, though. My bike time was a little slower than I wanted it to be, but it would have been worse. Dismounting the bike before running into transition was difficult though! My legs felt like Jell-O! My bike took me 38 min 31 sec to go just under 10 miles.


As promised... another ugly face picture! What was I saying?!My second transition was much faster, but my time chip didn't trigger the difference between my transition and my swim, so it put them together. I got to my stuff and basically just stripped down! Took off my biking shoes, my helmet, my number belt, my shirt, pants, and socks, grabbed my swim cap and goggles and ran to the pool. Paul was excited and was yelling "you've got 20 minutes to beat your goal!" which made me feel GREAT! It meant I didn't need to KILL myself on the swim. I didn't take it "easy" but I also didn't channel all the technique I'd been practicing either. Someone kept hitting my feet as we were swimming along and I kept hitting the rope with my left arm. I was tired and sloppy, but just kept swimming! I'm sure my stroke looked terrible, but Paul said it wasn't too bad. Those 7 laps went by pretty quick and one of the hardest parts of the swim was pulling myself out of the water. My friend, Julie, was there at the finish line! I jumped over the timing trigger with my arms in the air and screamed before giving her a hug! I felt so AWESOME for actually finishing it! What an amazing feeling accompanied by a total adrenaline rush! Technically, my time on the swim was 13 min 28 sec, but that included the transition time. I'm hoping the actual swim was closer to 10 minutes. We left the pool area and went to dry off before talking to everyone. The cool air was pretty wicked after swimming in warm water after all that previous work!
In this picture, I'm telling Paul to crop the photo to just be from the waist up! He didn't. I had to crop this one myself! Yet ANOTHER ugly picture! I have HUGE teeth!
This one is a little better than the other!

So, my total time was 1:21:49. 8 minutes faster than I was hoping to finish it! I finished in the top 50% of my age group, which isn't too shabby for me on my first race! Accomplishing this was (and still is) an incredible feeling! Talking to my family and friends afterwards was great and I had a huge smile on my face! I have a few pictures, but need to get a few emailed to me from Emily. I was really surprised how good I felt! It made me think, "Dang, I shoulda pushed it a little harder!" But I couldn't have known that with my first race. I don't regret playing it safe. I really didn't want to be dragged out of the water! But, we stood around for a while talking and waiting for all the times to be posted. Julie, Paul, the boys, and I stuck around to cheer on the winners and see if we could win anything cool in the raffle. I ended up getting a pair of Yankz (elastic shoelaces for super fast transitioning!).

The rest of the day included a hot dog roast at the Croshaws, a big (and frequently interrupted) nap while Paul went on a long bikeride with his brother, Spencer, a trip to Costco, and then we finished it off with visiting our friends, the Reynolds, to watch the UFC fights. I wasn't too into it, though, and fell asleep on the couch!

Overall, it was a fantastic and JOYFUL day! One I intend to remember for a long time... especially now that every minute detail has been documented!! ;) Thanks for sticking with me! And thank you again, everyone, for all the support. Especially to Paul. I dedicate this race to him, because it couldn't have happened without him! I love you, Baby! Can't wait to cheer you on for your first race this season next Saturday! You are the BEST!