The day started early, 4am to be exact. Kevin dropped me at the race site, we checked in, got marked, and set up our transition. We had to wait 3 hours for the start of the race and I think I peed about 6 times during that time. I'm not sure if it was nerves or hydration or what.
My wave took off at 8am and I rocked the swim. My goal was to come in under 30 minutes and as I ran up the beach I glanced at my watch, 27 minutes!! I didn't go out too hard on the bike, but I still finished right around 1 hour 30 minutes, which was my goal. I felt great going into the run through the first lap but I hit the wall around mile 4. I tried to eat but started feeling nauseous. I was in one of the last olympic waves so by this time the course was nearly deserted. A few friends from TNT that were in my wave passed me about this time and tried to drag me along to the finish, but neither my body or my mind was having it. I knew the run would be hard, but this was miserable. I walked a little and then tried to rally. I thought about my niece Lindsay going through chemo, I thought about my aunt who had passed just one week ago. But I felt so bad, nothing seemed to help.
Then I thought about the fact that I was the top fund raiser on my team. My friends and family and neighbors paid $5000 to finish this race, so I then I decided I should give it all I had left. I started running again but didn't look up, I just tried to put one foot in front of the other. I knew if I could make it to the north side of the lake the finish would be right around the bend. It came up a lot sooner than I thought it would and my family and my coach were there waiting. My coach was even more excited than me that I was actually finishing and Avery ran along the sidelines with me until I crossed the finish line. The boys came running over after I got done and Avery said to me, "Mommy, you were running so fast, I couldn't even keep up with you!" That totally made my day! Later in the car he said, "Mommy, I am so glad you finished, I mean I am so glad you winned your race today!!" If that's the way he saw the race go down, then it was totally worth it!
I finished the race in 3 hours 31 minutes. My goal was to come in at 3:30. I had to stop and pee after the bike, so Kevin says its make.
We were so happy to have Kevin's parents in town for the race. They had a great day and were super impressed that our team raised over $250,000 for LLS. I was super impressed by all the awesome pictures that Papa Tom took, some of them a little too good (because fat girls don't look that good in tight triathlon suits).
I've always said that I only wanted to finish the race. 6 months ago I couldn't run a mile straight on the treadmill, so I have definitely come a long way. I'm already making plans for next year, but for now I'm taking the next few weeks off.
No comments:
Post a Comment