Well my friends, it is 9pm on Saturday evening, and I AM ALIVE. For reals though, the triathlon exceeded all my expectations. I loved it. And I did well. And I’m proud of myself.
Pretty good for a Saturday morning.
I woke up so incredibly nervous. Once we got to the park, I immediately wanted to walk right out after seeing the masses of people that were there. Some people were pros and took themselves super seriously. I set up my bike and everything and waited around until our start time. My age group started 15 minutes after the first group. The longest fifteen minutes of my life. The swim went by so fast. Cale thinks I finished about sixth in my age group, which isn’t bad for being out of the water as long as I have. The bike was long, but was not hard at all. The people with fancy-pants road bikes zoomed by me, but otherwise I was right in pace with everyone. Then the run. This was the part that I was most worried about. I won’t lie, I did walk twice, but only up the two steepest of the four hills. The rest of the run I trudged along and had no clue how much longer I had left. So I just ran and ran some more.
The finish was surreal. There were so many people. It was really great. And I would consider doing another. Because it was awesome.
I’ve spent the rest of the day pretty darn tired. But we did celebrate by going to cheesecake factory and splitting a slice. Boy did I earn it!
My number. Lucky? Maybe.
Entering the water
Getting my swim on.
Starting out on the bike.
Last leg: the run.
And the finish line! I was so happy to see this. My head in somewhere in there. 1:40 minus our fifteen minute late start = 1:25. Not bad at all!
Finished!
Oh yes and I cut my toe entering the lake at the beginning of the swim. So this is what I got to see at the end of the race. It still hurts.
Rewarding myself. We were done early enough to still make it to McDonald’s breakfast!
Cale also twittered my progress along the way in case you missed it:
Steph finished the swim fast, started the ride about 8 mins ago
Ok when i said 8 mins she really started 827, so 12 min from start of swim thru transition
909 started the run. Got thru the bike faster than expected
Steph finished at 939, guessing an hour 24 min total, times will be online sometime to confirm. Great job
Isn’t he sweet?? He was a great cheerleader and photographer. I was so happy when I saw him along the course. And even more at the finishline!
Hope you all are having some wonderful weekends as well!
Posted in Uncategorized 
Tags: 
Ohhh I want to swim there!! That’s awesome!
PS, you really made me want a vanilla iced coffee…
Wow. I am so impressed. I couldn’t imagine doing a marathon let alone a tri-athalon. You must feel really good.
Congrats!! Awesome job, Steph! When’s the next one??
good job!
where are the pics of you with the free beer?
Wow, amazing job, Steph! I’m so proud of you! Man, I don’t think I’d ever be okay with swimming, otherwise I may try for my own “tri”. But who knows.
And how wonderful to have such a sweet, supporting hubby! I love it.
Yeah!!! I am so proud of my baby girl. You inspire me. If makes me want to do fun runs with the Bakersfield track club. I am trying to round up people from work. Could probably talk your brother into it. Who knows, when you come to visit we could get Jessie in on it. Maybe Talia could walk a 1 mile. Man I’m recruiting everybody. By the way you look like a pro in the pictures…CONGRATULATIONS
GOOD JOB! Sorry you cut your poor toe, that’s the worse! Oh, and I love the cheesecake factory!
aww congratulations! I knew you could do it, I got nervous just reading about you being nervous. Jon did a tri last year and I was so nervous watching I can only imagine how you actually felt. Again, great job!
This is so awesome Steph!! What a great accomplishment!! I probably would have cried as I crossed the finish line, if it were me! I’m so impressed that you did this. A big HUGE CONGRATS to you!!! You TOTALLY earned that Cheesecake. Totally. In fact… I think I’ll go have one in your honor too.
This really sounds like SOOO much fun to me!!!! I just can’t WAIT to be able to get back into some kind of an exercise routine again after the baby……. and one of my friends has already agreed to do SOME type of event like this afterwards!! You inspire me!!! Looks like you did a GREAT job! (I love McCafe coffee lol)
Ok, this confirms it. I really need to work for a goal like this. I’m setting one right now: By the end of next summer (well, by the time September ends next year) I will participate in a tri-athlon ( I could never do a marathon, running sucks compared to biking and swimming). I’ll make that my goal when I participate in Boot Camp. lol.
Congrats Steph! You’re an inspiration!
Now tell me the truth, was the water cold? *shivers*
-Diana
How awesome that you did that! Congratulations! Wow. I hope someday I can get to the point where I can do something so awesome!
Congrats Steph! You are awesome and definitely should be proud of yourself!
Whoa, you are the coolest girl I’ve ever “met”. That is freaking AWESOME!
Congratulations! That is very sweet of Cale to track your progress and cheer you on. I think I would be the spouse that sleeps in and says call me if you need a ride.
Congrats! And you even got a cute little medallion to remember it all by! YAY!
Look at you go!! I am so proud of you, not only for taking this on, but for doing SO well. Wow, you did amazing. You must feel so, so accomplished, and I’m glad your rewarded yourself properly with cheesecake and such.
Like Kourtni, I am SO excited to get back into a good workout routine once the baby is born, and I would love to do some sort of event someday. Maybe we could make a it a family affair someday… great idea, Aunt Barb!! You’ve inspired us all.
Oh, and how cute is Cale… I love how excited and supportive he was. So sweet!! He did a great job taking pictures too.
by the way, I hope you know I was just teasing you yesterday about not having posted yet…. like I’m one to talk about how long it takes to post things.
Congrats, Steph!!! So, so proud of you!!!! You are so amazing! Wowzers — that’s so cool you came in 6th in the swim! And so awesome you ran almost the whole time. You are truly an inspiration! You kicked soooo much bootie!! Yay!!! I’m so glad you did this! Loved seeing all the pics of the tri! Oh, and I love the title of this post, btw!
That’s so cute Cale was so supportive and such a good lil cheerleader for you – even on twitter! Awww! Yes, you totally deserved that cheesecake!!! Yay! Go YOU!!!
p.s. Oh my gosh! I can’t believe your toe! OUCH! you are so freakin hardcore!
Talia,
But it made me feel special that you were actually thinking of me!
I knew you were joking
Congratulations Steph!!! That is amazing, your time is amazing, the fact that you are smiling in some of those photos, I think I would be cursing life and definitely not smiling. You did great and I am so glad you had such a great experience and did so well. How wonderful is it to have such a supportive husband to take pictures, to tweet and to follow you around. Yeah, and like other people have asked “when’s the next one?”
That is amazing! Good for you for following through with it. I’m also very proud of you. I thought of you Saturday and wondered how you were doing. Is that weird? I hope not, because it’s not meant to be that way. Anyway…Congrats!
that is so awesome… I am so proud of you!! WAY TO GO!!
GOOD FOR YOU!!! GO STEPH!!! WOOT WOOT!!!! HOORAY!!! YIPPEE!!!
WOW! You’re amazing! Goodness, I think I’d like to someday do a 5k, I can’t imagine doing a triathlon! You rock!You should be very proud of yourself! I hope the toe heals quickly. I’m such a wimp I probably would have thought, okay, can’t do it, my toe got hurt. I quit. LOL!
Congrats on the triathalon! I’ve ran a 5 mile race before but I can’t imagine being in good enough shape for a tri!
Sara,
Thanks! I think I actually might do another one (something I thought I would never ever say), but I definitely want to take a break and do some fun things for exercise. I’ll definitely post a blog if I sign up for another one.
Allison,
Definitely not weird. Thanks for thinking of me! Maybe it was all the people who were thinking about me who got me through it.
Maris,
Oh believe me I was not in that great of shape, but the sprint triathlon is totally doable. The run was only a 5K. Of course I did have an advantage in the swim since I’ve swam since I was eight. But it was fun and I’m glad I did it. Thanks for visiting!
That’s so fantastic!!! You are so brave and awesome. I could never do it! Congrats on being spectacular!
Wow! That is so cool Steph! We are sooo proud of you. It is hard to sign up for one and more difficult to finish. I am really glad that you were happy with your performance. The pictures tell the story! Congratulations!
OK I am yet again inspired. I really wanted to run in the Nike Women’s marathon (I was only going to do the half) this October. I was even doing this fancy training class with a friend of ours that teaches strength and conditioning. And then I got pregnant. So my goal has been put off again. Nike Women’s (half) Marathon 2009 here I come!
Congratulations!! I am both proud and amazed! I am so out of shape that at the end of the swimming portion you would have found me floating face up, out of breath and relaxing!!
Lisa, where does that one take place? I am thinking I want to do a half marathon sometime next year, maybe we could do it together!
Cait,
Oh yes I got my free beer, but I was drinking it while I was too busy checking out my wounded toe. Hence, no picture.
Way to go, Steph!! seriously sounds like you did amazing! sucks about the toe though….:(