My 1st Ever Triathlon--Oneida Shores

Up until the very day of the tri, I wasn't sure I'd really do it. I had been training, but 2 weeks before the date, I got a heavy chest cold that knocked me down. For 10 days I did nothing but sleep and work. The night before was church and Mike and Auddie Mastroleo made a point to let me know just how disappointed they'd be if I didn't go for my goal.

Welll, thankfully, the morning of the Triathlon, I felt energized. I woke up at 0500, drank a big glass of home-made carrot juice, ripe with anti-oxidants and vitamins, and loaded all my gear into the car and headed out to Oneida Shores.

I was glad I arrived early, because I got to set up all my gear...towel, sneakers, socks, change of clothes, bike in ready position.


One funny, but notable thing happened just before the race. I was all ready to go, and just kind of pacing around, excited and bubbly inside. And this cute guy comes up to me. He leans in real close and says, "Hey your wet suit's on backwards." Well, that wasn't at all what I was expecting to happen. I told him he was mistaken. But then all his buddies assured me that indeed he wasn't...lol. Who knew that the zipper goes in the back on a wet suit?!? So, with 4 minutes to spare I mustered whatever dignity I had left and ran to the bathroom to put that blasted suit put on right. How embarrassing!

The biking was a blast. Note the numbers on my arms, leg, bike and even there's one that you can't see on the back of my calf. That number is my age. How nice! For all to see, they put your age on the back of your calf. Didn't know that before I signed up. And it was lots of fun trying to scrub the ink off as I raced to get ready for the graduation ceremony/reception I had to go to right after.

My least favorite leg of the triathlon is running. I did enjoy being out in nature, though. But not being able to breathe and feeling all wobbly off the bike wasn't a great feeling.

So, here I am in full sprint. And unbeknownst to me, in full smile as well. But the announcer sure didn't miss it and he made sure everyone else didn't either. "Look at this young lady with the big smile. She looks so happy to be here!" Despite my embarrassment, I guess I was. This really was alot of fun.

The blessed finish line! Yay! I did it! I completed my first ever triathlon. (now I'm setting my sights on a triathlon in each of the 50 states....what do you think?)

oh...p.s. Photos are courtesy of Lepow photos. I guess there's a copyright so I have to give them credit.