The Triathlon

Well it was a very interesting Triathlon experience. I can say I did it, but it was disapointing in a few ways. First off I woke up early Friday morning to do a quick 15 minute run--the last week of training was really tapered off. The run went fine, I felt good. I came home and got to some cleaning (I can't leave a dirty house when I go out of town) and then sat down to do a few emails. That's when it started--back pain! I have had some back issues since college when I injured the muscles in my lower back and then during pregnancy I experienced sciatica which has since bothered me periodically when I strain the muscles or move the wrong way, oh yeah and stress. Anyway, my sciatic nerve was throbbing. I had errands to run at had to return home early and could hardly get the boys back in the house. I was in tears, both from pain and frustration. I decided that I had invested too much time and money to quit now. What if I didn't go and then woke up feeling fine Saturday morning? I knew I would be mad at myself. So we made the trip to Emerald Isle. I got there and registered and ate dinner--all in pain. Finally we got to the Cox's beach place (thanks Jeanne and Ted!) and I settled on to the heating pad. We went to sleep (well sort of, as much as my nerves would let me) and I prayed and prayed to feel better. Saturday morning brought less pain and a ready heart. I was nervous (I took an Imodium for that) but was ready to go. We got to the race site around 6:00 (Chris Dowd and Jamie--a girl from work--were also racing, Jessie and Stan brought the boys later). We set up our transition area and waited for race time. The group from my church consisted of about half that had done Tri's before and half newbies. It was great to have all that support, wisdom and shared nerves. By 7:00 we see the Coast Guard boats out to drop the bouys in the water. Only they weren't doing any dropping. The water was way too rough. What does that mean? No swim. They cancelled it. I was seriously mad. I have to admit once I heard that I had a bad attitude. I was in pain and wasn't even going to get to do my favorite part. I considered just not participating at all. So instead of swimming, biking and then running we were going to run and then bike. Then I thought maybe I would just do the 5K run and not the 20K bike. I was being silly--I changed my bad attitude and decided to see how I felt after the run. I ran at a consistant pace and made the whole thing without stopping to walk--my goal for the run portion. I get to the bike and at that point I really wanted to finish. I got on the bike and rode the longest 20K ever. It really hurt. By the time I finshed I couldn't get of without help. But I finished. It stinks that I don't feel like I really accomplished my goal since I really only did a Biathlon but there is another one in March that Stan and I are considering doing together. We shall see. Here are the long awaited action shots.

My cheering section.


Finishing the run!


The end of the bike. I was so trying not to cry.