That second time I did a triathlon

Big Sis tends to get me into things. I mean, it's my fault for saying yes, but they typically start as her idea. She asked if I wanted to do a Sprint triathlon with her and some friends because the more they had on their team, the cheaper it was per person. I said yes because I had only been doing cycling and yoga and had hit a little plateau in my fitness. I figured a race would help me do some additional workouts.

Nope.

I swam once in a lake in Seattle and once in the pool. Stupid water aerobics is going on from 8am to 11am every day and I just couldn't fit lap swims. I made it happen once and swam the requisite 400m with ease so I wasn't REALLY nervous, but I had planned on doing more swimming to train. 

I didn't.

And for running? I did a couple runs while on the epic roadtrip and then nothing for a month. I have crazy workout friend who run every Wednesday at 5 freakin AM so I decided to join them. They were doing 6 miles and I figured I'd just run a couple with them and then walk. It was just so fun talking to them and my lungs weren't burning at all (hooray cycling classes!) so I just kept going the whole distance.

And regretted it for a week with a sprained arch in my foot. I tried running again a week later and made it a half mile on the treadmill before it started hurting again so I didn't run again before the race. I mean, I did 6 miles without any other training, a 5k shouldn't be a problem, right?

I was pretty much loathing the entire thing for weeks. I figured I wouldn't get any emotional pay off from finishing because I had already done that distance before. I really debated forfeiting my $40 and sleeping in, but showed up with my sister anyways. Here is our before shot, during the freaking sunrise (I don't like waking up early). We take our power poses seriously.

I did find a renewed appreciation for the Fit. Two bikes without even having to remove a wheel. The same bikes we bought when I was training for that first triathlon.

I didn't even care if Husband came to watch because I was just not excited about this race. The sweet man did come toting the kids, but I ended up finishing just ten minutes before he got there. I did get some pics of my brother in law finishing though.

It ended up being a huge emotional payoff and I was so happy after we did it. My times were so much better than I anticipated and I averaged 8:53 miles. That is faster than I can run 1 mile, let alone after swimming and running. Props go to sister's friend Meg for setting that initial pace and making me want to keep up with her. She motivated me on the biking too because I had a faster transition and she caught up with me. Naturally my competitive spirit wouldn't let her stay ahead of me. I mean, I'm a cycling instructor, right? This was the only part of the race I had actually trained for. Sort of. I averaged 17miles/hr for the 12 miles so I happy with that time as well.

So thanks Big Sis.  It was worth it if only to show this picture to our kids some day in our matching tri shorts.