I finished!

This morning was the day that I have been training for since January. When I woke up and saw that it was in the lower 60's with the possibility of rain, I wasn't too thrilled but decided that since it was colder out than the water temperature, it would be easier to get in the lake! Brandon was so nice to be with me the whole morning. We arrived at 7am, got all of my things in the transition area set-up, met up with my supervisor who was also racing, got marked with my wave number, bib # and age on my body (yes, they actually write how old you are on your calf!) and then was ready to go around 7:40. There were over 500 people there and the atmosphere was neat. It was funny to see the huge line for the porta potties right before the race! Everyone was pretty cold while waiting to get in the lake at their appropriate time. I was in wave #8, so my group finally went around 8:40 am or so. I was pretty nervous since swimming in the lake is definitely different than swimming in the pool, but everything went pretty well. It was hard to get a consistent pace going though since there were people around me, but I did better than I thought I would. Nick, Cassi and Adam even showed up to cheer me on which was really nice of them. They were all with Brandon as I ran up from the water to the transition area and it was nice to have the encouragement.

The bike was probably the hardest part of the race. It was SUPER windy and at one point I felt like I even stopped because of the wind. However, as people kept passing me, I kept reminding myself that my goal was to finish and that I was blessed just to be able to participate in the triathlon. Brandon encouraged me after the transition from the bike to the run which was nice as my legs were getting tired. Hans and Rachel were so nice to cheer me on during part of the run! I met my goal of not having to walk during the whole run which I was really proud of. Katy, Cassi and Brandon were all at the finish line which was so neat. Brandon was filming on the video camera and Cassi was taking pictures. Thank you to everyone for your support. I also got calls and emails from people saying they were thinking of me which I really appreciated. It was a great experience and I met my goal of finishing as well as coming in under 2 hours...my total race time turned out to be 1 hour and 33 minutes which I was really excited about. I did better in all of the events than I thought I would!

Pre-race in the transition area - it was kind of chilly out!At the end of the 10 mile bike rideTransitioning from bike to runAlmost to the finish line without stopping!Yay, I did it!

Me, Katy and Cassi

Me and Julie (my supervisor)

After eating lunch - waiting to hear the awards...one of Brandon's classmates came in 3rd for her age group in the Olympic distance and this was her first race...unbelievable!

Julie and I