Mini "Sprint" Triathlon

Thanks very much for all your well wishes about my new job. I am quite excited and it was great to share the good news with all of you! :) Sorry it has been a few days without me posting. I've been doing a lot of running around lately, but I have the next week pretty open, except for packing, so you'll probably get sick of me :)

So, a few Saturdays ago my mom and I did a "sprint" triathlon at the local YMCA. There were only like 20 people signed up for it, so it only took about an hour for all three events. First we did 250 yards of swimming. The weirdest thing happened to me during the third lap. I had problems breathing. Now this is weird because I have swum my whole life - my mom had my sister and I in swimming classes as 2 year olds. I never swam competitively, but I have swum laps for exercise a lot over the course of my life. And we had a pool in the backyard growing up. So it was a strange sensation to not be able to breathe. I switched from freestyle to breast stroke to make it easier to breathe. I knew my time was going to be terrible, but I sure as h*ll wasn't going to stop! I finished and was a little wobbly afterwards, but basically fine. (My mom's time was 1 minute faster than mine. But, she psyched herself out when she heard me say I had trouble breathing because she is a super strong swimmer and has been training for this (I haven't been) and could have finished with a much faster time.

The next event was the bike. We used stationary bikes. I haven't been on a bike since November, and I've never ridden for speed or time, just distance, so I didn't know how fast to go to make a good time. We biked for 2 miles. I finished in 8 minutes and 52 seconds. I could have done it faster, but I didn't want to tire myself out. Shows you how important training is! :)

The last event was running. We ran laps in a gym. It was fun because my mom and I got to run together. I realized that I could have gone faster, but I didn't want to psych my mom out, and it was fun to run with someone else. I did do a sprint of the last 1/4 of a lap to the end just for fun. It was a 1/2 mile total. It was supposed to be a mile, but they shortened it for some reason. I finished around 6 minutes, which is about right for me because I am not a sprinter and I run about an 11 or 12 minute mile.

So, the whole event was over in about an hour. We went to Einstein's Bagels afterwards for breakfast. (YUM!) The bizarre thing for me is that it was a fun way to spend a morning. I am not a very sports competitive person, so not doing well in the events didn't really phase me (my mom on the other hand had this whole goal to be able to do all 3 events in like 25 or 20 minutes. Go mom!) A year or two ago I would never have signed up for this mini-triathlon and would have considered it torture and humiliation. Now, I loved it! It is a great feeling. I hope to do more things like this in NYC, but I have to get ready for the level of competition there - ugh!

I do have a certificate, a medal and a t-shirt to commemorate my mini-triathlon. I just wish the words "Las Vegas" were more prominently displayed on the t-shirt. C'est la vie! It will still be fun to wear when I run again in Central Park!