Right away, Kim and I start upping our 3 walks/week routine into 3 walk-run-bikes/week + a larger Sunday morning training session. It was during this time that Brandon was diagnosed with testicular cancer and I considered dropping out. Brandon and I talked about it - who would watch the boys while I trained? Brandon had no strength nor the energy level to keep up with our two boys. Kim's husband Ben stepped up to the plate and agreed to watch my boys, along with his young daughter during our training sessions. This was a huge help, and really the only reason I was able to train during that time period.
With about 2 months to go before the big race day, we were usually biking 5-10 miles + running 1-2 miles three times per week. We set aside one Sunday where the guys dropped us off on the side of the road and we biked over 10 miles in the near 100 degree heat. We got off the bikes, took a water break and then hit the same pavement for a run. That was like triathlon boot camp.
With 1 month to go, we upped our workout routine to 6 days/week. This is where we added in the swim portion of our training. It was finally warm enough to swim in an outdoor pool (the only pool we had access to). Let me tell you - never discredit a swimmer. I grew up in the pool. I thought I would at least be descent in the pool. WRONG. After my first swim training session was the second time I considered dropping out. Wow. Talk about getting nervous. I couldn't swim without needing to breathe on every stroke, and I couldn't breathe without swallowing water. Yikes.
One week before the race, Kim's husband Ben had a major seizure at work and was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Like a champ, Kim kept her workout pace and we continued focusing on the swim/run portions of the race.
The day before the race, we dropped the boys off at their grandparent's and made the trip to Pine Mountain, GA. Kim and I had originally planned on taking our kids, as it was Father's Day weekend, but given all that our men had been through, we decided to make it an adult weekend. Once we arrived, I was so relieved that the boys were with their grandparents. Sure I missed them, but we stayed in a fairly nice hotel room at the Marriott Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens. At one point, I ask Brandon what our boys would be doing if they were there and he replied "Getting into those cabinets and breaking those wine glasses." Yep. He was right :/
We had a fun dinner with our friends that evening and then came back to the resort to check out the lake where we would be starting the race. They had the quarter-mile swim marked off with buoys. It looked a LOT longer than I had planned on. After a round of putt-putt, we resigned to our rooms to get ready for our early morning on Sunday.
RACE DAY
My alarm went off at 5:40 Sunday morning, but I was awake long before that. I was too nervous. I got up and got dressed. I went over my gear checklist 100 times - bike, helmet, goggles, socks, shoes, swim cap, ipod, headphones.... I was terrified that I would forget something. I met Kim in the lobby at 6:15 and we made our way to the transition area to rack our bikes. We found a spot - not knowing if it was a good one or not - and got ourselves ready. We got "marked", stretched and made our way to the race start. Our husbands met us there with their bellies full and their cameras ready. This was the first triathlon for both of us, and we had no idea what to expect. We were both nervous at this point - and Kim actually confessed to two dry heaves while getting dressed. My camera died the night before, during our grueling putt-putt match, so Ben was very sweet and agreed to document my race as well. He got lots of pictures, but let me warn you - unless you are built like my friend Kim, tri clothes are not very flattering. I would normally avoid posting pictures this bad of myself, but you kind of get over yourself after swimming/biking/running in wet clothes in front of 3,000 people. So here we are before the start of the race -
Here we are goofing off - Has anyone seen Bridesmaids?
There were 10 heats in the race - separated by male/female and then age groups. I was in heat 6 - the first heat of women. We watched the men start and before I knew it, my heat was next and I got in the water. I was sooooo nervous at this point, but I was grateful to be going before Kim. I didn't need to build up any more anticipation - so I was glad to go first and "get it over with". The swim was the part I was most concerned about. My training sessions had improved greatly, but I was still worried. The announcer gave the 1 minute warning, and then 30 seconds, and then 5 seconds and then everyone was cheering for us as we started the swim. Here we are as we started off -
We were about 100 yards into the swim at this point. One of my more experienced tri-buddies warned me that triathlon swims are like "trying to swim during the spin cycle in the washing machine." He was right. For one-quarter mile, I got kicked, splashed and slapped in the water. Before I knew it though, I could see people getting out of the water and I knew I was almost done.
Getting out of that water felt awesome. As I expected this to be the toughest part of the race for me, I was so happy to have it behind me and to have made it to the other side. I actually did better than I expected to. Poor Brandon watched some other girl behind me swim across the lake - he said he was surprised when I jumped out of the water in front of him.
We had to run barefoot to our bikes. I have always been tender-footed, much to my chagrin, so I ran across the gravel path like "oof. ouch. urgh. gah. owwiiieeee." I quickly wiped my face and feet off, blew my nose (a good tip from a friend) and threw my socks and shoes on. I snapped my helmet on and ran my bike out of the transition area (no biking in the transitions!)
Once I was on the bike, I realized how out of breath I was. Wow. I was really sucking wind, but thankfully the first mile or so of the bike route was down hill. I finally got my breath and realized that the men (who started about 15 mins ahead of my heat) were now coming in the opposite direction - straight for us. That was when I realized that I would soon be biking back UP this hill. Great. I lost a lot of time in the bike portion. When buying a bike, I chose a hybrid-style bike because I wasn't sure how many tri's I would do, and I didn't want to invest a LOT of money in a fancy road bike. At this point, I was wishing I had a road bike. My bike was a lot slower and heavier than the fancy bikes that passed me. I was working 10 times harder than my friends on road bikes. Oh well. I kept trekking along. I was completely lost and unfamiliar with this course, but thankfully there were so many bikers that I just followed the masses. Eventually I could see a crowd of people and I knew the end was near. Here I am nearing the end of the 10 mile bike course - a very unflattering photo - but I'm just proud of myself enough to post it anyway :)
With one-quarter mile to go, a man in the woods shouted "quarter mile to go! It's all down hill from here!" I was pumped!! I picked up the pace - determined to cross the finish line with a good final push. When I crossed the finish line, everyone was cheering and I found Brandon easily. I immediately said "What time is it??" He said 9:30 and I thought he was crazy. I actually checked his watch myself and was surprised to find that he was right - I finished in 1:16 minutes - 15 minutes faster than my goal and a LOT faster than my training times. I realize that my time means nothing to the experienced triathlete - I think the guy who won ran it in 43 minutes. But I was happy with that, and that's what counts :)
I felt so accomplished after the race. Never in a million years would I have thought I could do something like that. But we set out to do it, and we did - even when life tried to get in the way. I had so much fun and I'm actually considering doing another one. We'll see.....
Good job Jess! What an awesome accomplishment
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