I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!

WE DID IT!!! The Jordanelle triathlon was yesterday, and I am proud to say that Marisa, Nora, Veronica and I all did it! And we all finished in under 2 hours!!

(Here's a picture of us right before we started, stolen from Nora's blog!)

We spent Friday night at Nora's cabin, which is about 5 seconds from the start of the race. I hardly slept at all the whole night. Not because I was nervous (I was actually too exhausted to even think about the race the next day) but because Jake and I shared a room with both kids. Between Dallin taking FOREVER to go to sleep, then waking up in the night, Abbie waking up to eat and taking FOREVER to fall back asleep, I was awake for part of every hour of the night! Luckily, the adrenaline and excitement of race day took over, and I didn't feel tired at all during the race.

I WAS feeling nervous right before we started. There were so many people there (almost 800 athletes) and even though we'd practiced the course the week before, I still didn't know exactly what to expect. But before I knew it, it was time to start! The swim was amazing! It was a little crazy to start with so many people right on top of each other, but I concentrated on my stroke and tried to find my own rhythm. We swam .75 k, and I was the fourth woman out of the water! The men started before us, and I hadn't realized I'd passed all the other women! I was still surrounded by swimmers, and I thought I was just keeping up with everybody else! That really got me pumped up for the rest of the race. Biking was next. The 20 k course was so pretty and I was faster than I ever had been on a bike! Other racers kept complimenting me on doing so well on "that bike"- I had a mountain bike rather than a road bike. I couldn't help smiling at myself! Then came the 5 k run. When I got off my bike, my legs didn't feel like they belonged to me, and it felt like I was running on marshmallows. I was mentally coaching myself to make it through the run to the end, when Jake ran out of the spectator's section and started running with me! He had decided to help pace me through the finish. It was really fun to run with him since Marisa, Nora, Veronica and I were a little spread out by this time. And I'm happy to report that Jake was tired after running with me! :)

My final time was 1:43.10. Marisa finished exactly 2 minutes before me, Veronica was about a minute and a half behind me, and Nora came in about 10 minutes later. I was on cloud nine! I'm so proud of myself for training for and finishing this accomplishment! I'm totally hooked, and planning to do another triathlon next year (Marisa and Nora, are you in?). The only regret that I have is that in my excitement, I forgot to tell Jake the camera was in the diaper bag, so we have NO PICTURES of me! My dad and my mother-in-law took some pics that I'll have to track down, and Marisa's husband video taped the whole thing. Here's the video Marisa put together- just imagine me coming out of the water ahead of her, and finishing the bike and run just after her! :) You can see Jake and me starting the run.
Jordanelle Triathlon 2008

Dallin loved watching the triathlon so much he decided he was ready to try one. He practiced in the bathtub: