ENTERING LAKE MEAD @ 6:47 a.m. - YES A.M. People.......
The kids ran through the finish line with me and are in this picture
I finished my first triathlon, Rage 2009 in 2 hrs 11 mins. It was incredible. The swim was by far my hardest and I did a lot of self-talk out there. I did however find some sort of "stride" midway so as I swam from buoy to buoy I was able to breath well and even talk to some ladies around me. I breast-stroked most of it, with a little sidestroking in between. It took me 32 mins, which actually beat my training time. I was exhausted when I got out of the water and couldn't even find my zipper pull when I stood up (eh ya that is the above picture - haha). My transition time was way too long (4:42) but I was pretty disoriented and couldn't imagine biking. Seriously?
Off I went, carrying my bike instead of wheeling it (eejit) and finally hearing the guy on the loud speaker making a joke about me I put it on the ground, told the official I was taking the penalty for using my IPOD and off I went. The ride was good, tough in some spots but overall was pretty good. I was singing on some of my ride - hilarious - I thought it was probably weird for the "hardcore triathletes" speeding past me to hear me la la-ing along with my music. My spin classes seriously paid off on the hardest hills and I passed 3 of my teammates. I came in at 58:38 which wasn't too bad, for my first go round. Oh btw, I did rent a road bike and it was awesome and they didn't give me the penalty for the IPOD! Transition 2 was great (1:28) and the 5k was pretty good too. I ran the whole way with my sister in law Kati, which was pretty cool. The terrain was rough, it wasn't paved, rocks everywhere (hence, RAGE IN THE SAGE - we do live in a desert) but after a few minutes, I found a zone and stayed in it. I ran the third leg in 34:32 which also beat my training time. At the very end, I asked Kati if she wanted to sprint to the end and before I even finished asking she took off - HECK NO - she didn't.......so all the adrenaline left in me kicked in and I beat her by 3 seconds...whoop! Team Bainbridge.......it was awesome! I'll definitely do it again and when I do I will beat my own time.
