Triathlons and Life lessons from 2Pac

This is my new favorite wardrobe. It's like a full body girdle. And it makes you buoyant and keeps you from a little bout of hypothermia. Functional AND fashionable!

Julzholla! and I did another triathlon! This time, we challenged ourselves with cool new things like open water swims which necessitates a cool new accessory: a wetsuit. It turns out, putting your face in a pool is slightly different than putting your face in a lake to swim. I suppose there's no line to guide you in your lane. If there is a line painted on the bottom of a lake, you can't see it. You can't see 2" in front of you. That, and they didn't turn the heater on in the lake. It was 60 degrees. I know you people think that the air temp of 60 sounds lovely. And to you I say, "Shut it." And then go take a bath for 10 minutes in 60 degree water. Let me know how that goes for you.

We were so nervous about the swim, we really didn't care much about the rest of the race. Just getting on the wetsuits in front of 800 other athletes was a victory for us.

But we did it! I was nervous about getting crawled over. Thankfully, we only swam over people, we didn't get swam over. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug, y'all. Staying on course was a bit nerve racking and I didn't put my head in the water for the first 50 meters. Swimming freestyle with your head out of the water is like driving with the brakes on. So, eventually, I put my head in the water and kicked it in. I was shocked when I got out of the water to see I'd done 500 meters swim in 9:14!

And then to my least favorite: the dreaded bike. I don't know why. And I'm not okay with just accepting that I just suck at it. But still, haven't trained hard enough or found any joy in biking. I'm still working on it. The course was straight out 8 miles and straight back. Shouldn't be too bad. At mile one, I went to get a swig of water, and when I put the water bottle back in its cage, I dropped the bottle. Woops. Oh, and then ran over it! It was a big bump and I was so thankful that I didn't crash from running over my water bottle. Because with me, that's more than possible. It's plausible. Based on my little bike computer, I was rocking out some serious speed. Maybe I'd finally conquered the bike after all! I was going 25 mph with slack in my pedal on flat land. This is awesome! Yay me! My first clue should have been that even though I was going super fast, I was passing no one. Interesting. I didn't catch on until I got to the turn around at 8 miles. And that's when it hit me. Literally. The wind hit me. Wow. This was different than gusts. This was incessant wind. Uh-Oh. It took me 20 minutes to go 8 miles out. It took me 45 minutes to come back the same 8 miles.

The problem I have with triathlons is nature. I'm not really a fan of nature and all of her elements like heat, cold, wind, and rain.

I guess the ride was rough, because I started to see things. I mean, this time, I really tried to just focus on straight ahead and not stop to admire the scenery so much. It turns out that "Hey, look, isn't that pretty!" doesn't really jive in the world of triathlons. But I was moving so slow, I couldn't help it. And at some point, I thought I saw a hedgehog perched on a tree stump. But it turns out it was just a tree stump cut at an angle, and what I thought was the hedgehog was actually the center of the tree.
And I swear to you, an angel in the voice of 2pac himself said to me: "Mmmmmm HMMMMM. Girl, when the wind is at your back, you best recognize!" Absolutely, 2pac. Hey, did you see that hedgehog back there?

How true is that? I really thought I was something special, going 25 mph and all. It was the wind. When you're going downhill, or getting pushed by 25mph winds, take advantage. Seize that moment.

So, I made it back. And the kids were packing up the car to come search for me. Kidding! Those little suckers were there and ran with me from the transition to the run course. And when they stopped, and I kept going only to start a large uphill climb, I heard Lucy shout "YOU CAN DO THIS MOM!" Ahhhh, and theres the wind at my back again. I best recognize. And then I finished, upright again.

That's how I roll.
Song of the day: Hold On Be Strong by 2Pac