Tri? Yep, we did!

It's official folks, not only are we marathoners but we're now triathletes! :-)

Tina and I completed our first mini-triathlon last weekend. We did the Mermaid Tri which consists of a 1/4 mile swim, an 11 mile bike ride, and a 2.5 mile run. Yep, we did the whole darn thing!

It all started on Saturday with packet pick up and then a quick shopping trip to Sports Basement. I needed some gear because evidently you swim in gear and then don't change but jump right on the bike. Well, after putting on your shoes of course. So I got quick drying gear that included a pair of padded shorts, a pair of padded pants (because the sale couldn't be passed up) and a quick drying tank. I was gonna get a short top, but there was a sausage effect that is better left undescribed.

At packet pickup the water temp was reported somewhere in the low 70's, so Saturday night as I was packing my bag with all my stuff I decided to pull out my shortie wet suit. I might not wear it but at least I'd have the option. Tina didn't have a choice and went sans wet suit. Turns out I am REALLY glad I took it. The water was pretty cold. So much so that Tina had trouble catching her breath in the water and had to back stroke a good portion of the swim because she couldn't breathe. I was pretty comfortable in the shortie once I started moving.



We went down to the water to get acclimatized prior to our start and entered the water way too soon. We were left standing around for a good 10 minutes before we were sent out. We waited until the end so we wouldn't be in the mad crush of people, but that didn't work out so well. We ended up catching up to the crush anyway and getting right in the mix. I lost sight of Tina and kept trying to look back to see if I could find her, but damn it's hard to find one person in a sea of pink swim caps! At one point I was treading water looking back and the young lifeguard asked me "Are you okay ma'am?" Ma'am! Ouch. I told him I was fine and continued on my way. I got to the beach and still didn't see Tina, so I stripped off my wet suit and hung out looking for her. She made it up to the beach and we sprinted off to the transition area. Let's just say she was a *little* ticked at having to backstroke. ;-)

In the transition we dropped our swim stuff, shoved our shoes and helmets on and were off on the 3-loop, 11 mile ride. We were cruising right along passing people left and right. Okay, so we were only passing people left..."Left!.....Left!....Left!" we shouted out over and over. There were people out there on all kinds of bikes, cruisers, mountain bikes and of course tons of road bikes, fancy and not so fancy (like mine). Tina is DEFINITELY the stronger biker of the two of us. I was just praying that I didn't get a flat. Tina was carrying extra tubes and a pump, but as the woman beside us in the transition area warned "You can't help her." Uh, hello competative lady, we're in the **for fun** division! Anyway, I needed to stay fairly close to Tina just in case I got a flat, so that kept me moving even though I was running out of steam.



Our 3 loops finished, we headed once again into the transition where we kicked out of our clips, hobbled on wobbly legs over to the bike rack, dumped our bikes, changed our shoes and headed out on the run. Yeah, you read that right. The ladies that can run for miles had wobbly legs. I can't believe how tough it was running after riding just 11 miles. Maybe it has something to do with not having been on my bike at all in over a year? Nah, that couldn't be it. Anyway, Tina pulled me through the run as I started getting stomach cramps. She fired my competitive spirit by pointing out a lady that we couldn't let beat us, we had to pass her. ;-) I think part of the reason the run was so tough was that I was really dehydrated. I'm not that steady on my bike (again, lack of practice?) and was afraid to reach down for my bottle too much. I only took one quick drink the whole way. Definitely need to learn how to handle that and force some fluids in.

Anyway, we out did our best estimates and finished in 1:33. I told Tina "Just think if you had been able to breathe how much better we'd do!" Well, we'll soon get to find out! We signed up for another one on June 16th, and this time darn it, we're getting that girl a wet suit! Stay tuned for the next adventure of superladies T and K.