I did it.
I completed my first triathlon on Saturday.
I can't believe it.
So here's the story: PJ has done several sprint distance triathlons in the past few years. He really loves it and has suggested that I train for one. I was not sure about this because I've never considered myself to be an athlete. I had done three 5K's since Avery was born three years ago, which helped me have the confidence to do this. PJ made me a training schedule that began in January and lasted 10 weeks. It basically consisted of doing two of the three components (run, swim, bike) three times a week. I really enjoyed having three different areas to train for because it kept my exercise routine interesting. I actually exercised more like 5 days a week, and not always doing two sports each time, but the schedule was a good guideline.
The triathlon was a "reverse sprint triathlon" which means it was rather short distances in the reverse order of a normal triathlon. It began with a 5K run, followed by a 15K bike, then a 150m swim. The event took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Basically we ran one loop around the Rose Bowl, then 3 bike loops, then ran to the Aquatics Center and swam three 50m lengths in a serpentine fashion. I was glad that I did a "brick" (meaning two components back to back) to practice the Saturday before at the Rose Bowl, because I felt really psychologically and physically prepared on race day.
My brother Ryan was in town, so he took a couple of photos when he and PJ and the kiddos showed up about half way through the race. Here's me on the bike, waving to the kids as I FLY BY:
Here's me doing the breast stroke (I was way too tired to crawl) in the swimming pool with my awesome pink goggles.
I had a goal of completing in under two hours, but I thought that I could probably do it in 1 hour 45 minutes. I was totally thrilled with my time: 1 hour 33 minutes!!! It was really, really fun too! I was nowhere near the competitive times of right around an hour, but who cares!?! I did it, and I wasn't last, and I didn't take any walking breaks or anything.
This just goes to show that if I, the athletically challenged and frustratingly overweight girl, can do this, anyone who wants to can do it too!
It was amazing to watch the drill sargeants get in the cadets' faces and scream at them during the inspection part of the competition. If they didn't know the answer to questions, they were somewhat publicly humiliated. There was even one JROTC cadet who had to do continual about-faces while saying "This cadet does not know anything."
Then the second phase of competition involved a list of commands that the leader of the Rifle Drill Team had to call out and the group had to follow. Erik was a super-star during this part! I couldn't believe it was my baby brother yelling commands with perfect timing.
Here's my adorable brother holding my equally adorable son. See the family resemblance?
I was keeping my plans a secret from PJ, so he wasn't sure where we were going when we arrived at Hollywood and Highland (the famous touristy place in Hollywood where the Kodak theater --think Oscars,---and the Chinese theater---think hand and footprints, and walk of fame and all that is) and there were THRONGS of teenagers lining the streets, SCREAMING and FREAKING OUT. It turns out that night was the premiere of the Jonas Brothers new 3-D concert movie at the El Capitan theater, right next door to Kimmel. PJ looked at me and asked, "You got me tickets to the Jonas Brothers?" Right. Like he would really appreciate their music surrounded by a thousand teeny-bopper girls weeping with joy.
After we braved the crowds and got turned away at the door and told we needed to go around to the back ALLEY for Kimmel, we waited in line for nearly 90 minutes until they opened the doors to the theater and we were seated in the audience. It was a fun show: Don Rickles was there, as well as Regis Philbin. They also taped a segment with Rob Lowe for the next night's show and we all had to pretend it was Wednesday for about 15 minutes. Then after the show, we went to the lobby where they taped a band performing two songs and we were the concert audience---which will air in the next few weeks. I can't remember the band's name....sorry. 