The Danskin Triathlon

I never thought I would have any part in a triathlon. Sure I know some people who have done them. Of course I thought they were amazing. Did I ever once think maybe I would want to try one myself? No.

Until one day I got a call from one of my friends. She had signed up for the Danskin Triathlon along with several co-workers I used to teach with. She was really nervous about the swim and knew that I had grown up in a pool. :) After calling, she found out that you can do the Danskin in a relay and wanted to know how I would feel about swimming for her.

I immediately got a rush of adrenaline just thinking about it. I hadn't swam anything more than a few lengths since high school. (I guess I was pretty burnt out after swimming every day of my life growing up.) I missed it though. I just needed a motivation to swim, a goal that I could set for myself. This was my chance and I knew I was going to take it.

I started swimming every other day at the YMCA and even went to a few open water clinics. The lake was definitely not a pool, but I liked the challenge. Most people were in wet suits, but the lake is really pretty warm this time of year so I didn't wear one. The water was choppy though and it was really hard to gage where I was heading without constantly looking up. All in all, my lake swims went really well and the 1/2 mile didn't seem so bad after I had built up some endurance.

I felt prepared for my race, but I was really nervous because I didn't know what to expect. I had never even seen a triathlon in person, let alone participated in one. At registration, there were hundreds of women who all looked really fit and confident. The next morning, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body before I even got to the lake. Once I saw the course and other women beginning their races, I felt a little better. Even though all you could see was a mass of swimmers all making their way through the water together, at least I knew what to expect.

Each wave had a different color of swim cap and mine was yellow. I moved my way to the front so I wouldn't have to worry about someone kicking me in the face at the start. The course seemed longer than when I had swam in the pool, probably because it was one huge triangle instead of thirty-two lengths. It ended up that the challenge was not staying on course, like I had previously thought. (There were kayaks lined up on both sides so you would run into a kayak before you got too far off track.) The challenge was that I eventually caught up to the waves of swimmers who had started a few minutes before us. So instead of plowing through the water as quickly as I could, I had to constantly watch where I was going in order to weave around the other swimmers. I was exhausted when I exited the water and knew I swam the race as hard as I possibly could. I couldn't imagine moving on to do a 12 mile bike and 3 mile run!

When the results posted later, I saw that I had swam the 1/2 mile in 15 minutes and 58 seconds. My goal was to swim it in 15 minutes or less so I was super excited! Out of the 77 relay swimmers, I had placed fourth! My friend went on to do the bike and run and together, we placed twelfth. It was so much fun to watch her and all of my other co-workers cross the finish line. I was so proud of them and I instantly had the desire to try one myself. I haven't biked in years though and I'm not the strongest runner, so maybe I'll just stick to swimming! :)

Overall, it was such an exciting day. It made me realize that I have spent the last six years either pregnant or nursing a baby! It felt good to work toward a goal again and accomplish something on my own. My hard work paid off and I had so much fun! Someone once told me that triathlons are addicting and now I can definitely see why...