I did my very first, and then my second triathlon this weekend! What an amazing experience!
See Jane Tri Triathlon (400 meter swim, 11 mile bike, 3 mile run)
Marianna and I joined Jenny and her friend Liesel on this very important event with the proceeds going toward breast cancer research. Jenny has a very good friend in
TX who, at the age of 35 is dying from breast cancer. I couldn't believe how nervous I was for this! First of all, the thought of jumping into a lake at 8 in the morning did NOT sound very fun. And it turned out, it wasn't. See this picture? I share it with you NOT to show you how good I look in my swim cap, but do you see all those people in the background? Yeah, we were all swimming together. It was like a shark feeding! Thank goodness the water was actually warm, even if it was black from the mud. Ugh. But I survived the swimming and made good time and then ran around frantically because I couldn't remember where I parked my bike. Not even a GPS would be able to help me with this one. :) I eventually found it after killing some good time and off I went on my bike. Word to those who want to do this: Road bikes go much, much faster than mountain bikes. Eleven miles later I ditched my bike and was on foot. It's amazing how difficult it can be running after bike riding. My legs feel like jello and it felt like I was running so slow, although Marianna's watch confirmed we were running 8 1/2 minute miles! Can you believe the running course included hills?! The nerve... But we finished strong and even managed to
sprint across the finish line. I'm so glad to have such good friends who have helped me and inspire me to try and push my physical limits. First flying (see I can fly!), now a triathlon... What's next and I say BRING IT ON!
I really wish I had a picture of my loving family to insert right here but I don't. Anyway, they are awesome! Apparantly it's not fun running around trying to catch of glimpse of me as I run or ride by (the girls informed me of this), but they did it anyway. David and Nathan got the kids up and out the door by 6:45, Sierra gave up a soccer game, and Skyla gave up being in her soccer team picture just to cheer me on. And my little Karsten cheers so loud. He's so proud of me racing. I ran faster knowing they were there. Thanks family!
Albany Centiennial Triathlon (400 meter swim, 8 mile bike, 2 mile run)
So normally after an event, I don't want to wake up the next morning and do another event. But this one was different... It's my
town! I swam in the pool where I train and learned that I could in fact swim. I biked and ran around the park where I take my kids on a weekly basis. I was supporting Albany! It was very low key and so much fun! We kept doing loops (15 on the bike and 4 running) around the park and the high school. To keep track of what lap we were on Marianna and I had a bag of candy and after every lap we'd throw a piece out. That's a lot of loops! The really cool thing was we got to compete with our friend Susan Parkinson who took 1st place! She's amazing. She finished her entire thing before we even started running and then waited for us and ran our last lap with us. And while this event was on a Sunday, I'm proud to say that all three of us were there for sacrament meeting which starts at 9:30. I felt like my race continued until I finally made it to church. :)
or citizen." We were the youngest ones there by 30 years. They were a nice group of people and we actually had a good time, but it was a little embarrassing. (This is not a picture of the class - most of the hair there was a little whiter...) 
Dinner before flying
It was so much fun to mingle with our neighbors and walk in the middle of the street. The firemen even came with a truck and talked with us about safety and then let the kids explore the fire truck and even squirt water from the fire hose!!! Now that's what I call a Par-tee!
