DONE!!!!!!

Well, I did it! I crossed the finish line, without stopping, without walking the entire time. I believe I finished in 3:33, but I don't know my official time because I didn't know there was a computer there to check it all out. Oh, well, when I looked up the clock said 5:33:24 or something like that, and I started in the wave that went out at 2:00 into the race. So there it is. I was hoping for 3 1/2 hours, so 3 minutes longer feels awesome!!

The swim was great. Since I hydrated so much before the race, I had to pee REALLY bad by the time we got into the water for our practice swim immediately prior to our wave start. I let loose as soon as I got in. It really did help warm me up. Before you get too grossed out, let me tell you it's a common practice, ok??? My face and head were pretty cold, and my feel and hands got numb, but it didn't stop me. The kelp was even less of an issue today, in part because it was parted some by prior waves of swimmers, and in part because I knew that I was boss....I just slapped it out of the way. My teammate Nancy had had an asthma or panic attack at the practice swim yesterday, and was totally freaked out before the race, like sobbing with the coach, didn't want to get in the water. Well, I have to say the highlight of my race was getting out of the 2nd lap around the bay and seeing her right next to me. We had gotten out at exactly the same time and we yelped and gave each other a huge hug. It was so great to see her swim so well!

We ran up the beach and up a concrete path to our transition area, ripped off the goggles and cap and wetsuit--the tri suit was on underneath. Put on bike shoes helmet, and ran my bike out of transition. I felt gleefully numb, couldn't feel any pain or any cold or anything as I set out. It was a looped course and quite beautiful with crashing waves on the beach next to us the whole way (though I couldn't see so well with my foggy misty sunglasses on). We went around a loop 4 times...at one end was a bit of a hill, which sucked, but going down in the other direction was so sweet!!!! That's the one place where my size is a definite advantage....I propel down the hill way faster than those skinny chicks! The other thing about the bike was that I could see me arms now with the people's names on them in sharpie. So I would look down and be reminded that the spirit of those folks would help me. That was totally awesome!! The third loop sucked. And by the 4th, I had beseeched Zack's help to finish the bike part, and he came through. I did my bike in 1:32 or something respectable like that. No flat tires, no road rash. Check it off the list. Swim done. Bike done.

Back into transition, ripped off the bike shoes, slapped on the running shoes, ripped off the stupid foggy misty sunglasses, put on the shirt with my race number and all the people's names, and my running hat, and off I went. So many people lined the course and cheered us on. Team in Training is a big presence at many of these races, and people who didn't even know me would cheer me on. Go 1050 (my number), looking nifty! That was my fave. Go, team!! It helped so much. I smiled the whole way through the bike and the run, felt like I had permagrin. In part I was so touched to have people cheer for me like that, in part I was checking off my list and realizing that I was getting closer to being done with each stroke or rotation or step! Three loops on the run. The first loop sucked. The second loop was better, and on the third loop I was just so aware of the end coming up that I was happy. I saved a bit of energy for the push to the finish line, I felt so strong coming in, and when I crossed, our team captain Will, who is like the nicest, most supportive guy in the world was there with a big hug. I burst into tears and started sobbing. Thank God Will was there for me to hang on.....so much energy and emotion, so much training to get to that point, so much help and support along the way, so many people thought of on the race. It was a huge thrill!!!!

Now I am showered and in clean clothes, happy to be done and updating my blog. It will be good to read later, reflections from my first triathlon!!!!

Love,
Suzy

Kelp, Beautiful Kelp

This morning I had some alone time and decided to decorate my running tank top with all the names of the people I know or have heard of through my donors and friends to remember during the race--you can see their names in the column on the left of this blog page. I decided to do that and also to Sharpie their names onto my skin so they will always be with me on the race, not just for the run. It was a nice quiet moment as I reflected on the challenges that these people have faced and turned my attention away from me for awhile.

This afternoon we headed down for our practice swim to Lover's Point on our bikes, with all our swim gear stuffed into backpacks. A lovely day, low 70's, breezy and blue skies. We wet-suited up together (always a spectacle) and got our pep talk on the beach by Coach Julie. (Coach Glen actually could not come to our triathlon due to health issues that surfaced suddenly.....we are all sad about that.) Then in we dove! At the moment you pull your wetsuit out around the neck to get the big bubble of cold water in, it's quite exhilarating, shall we say! Then as I began to swim, I noticed my face feeling cold. I quickly adjusted to that when the kelp got my attention. This is no pansy kelp we are talking about, it's big bold tall graceful Amazon kelp. Comes right up to the surface and causes a muffled stalling slap when your arm comes down on it. It means business. Like that black knight in the Holy Grail, it says, "NONE SHALL PASS!" But I discovered how to deal with it. I laughed at it! Ha-ha! You big beautiful scary kelp, you think you can stop me or scare me, but you can't!! At times, I felt like I was in a veritable forest, and literally pulled myself along by the stalks. At other times, it was blessed clear salty ocean water. I kept my sense of humor, and kept "loose", as one of my friends advised. I persevered. And I did quite well. We only did one lap today around the buoys. Tomorrow in the race, we do two. But I will be confident, because I've got the kelp's number, and I love the salt water, and I will keep my sense of humor.

Tonight is our carbo-loading pasta dinner, with inspirational speakers, no doubt, and a team meeting in which Glen will be patched in by speakerphone to pump us up. Then I hope to get a good night's sleep before the early morning wake-up time of 4:15! I picked up my packet today and discovered that my start time tomorrow is 9:15am. Plenty of time to fret. Send positive thoughts, PLEASE!

HERE I GO!!!

I haven't written in awhile, mostly because I have been too busy training, vacationing, backpacking, traveling to a funeral and getting ready to send the kids back to school. And now here I stand on the verge of heading out to Pacific Grove, California to do my triathlon. We leave tomorrow morning. And on Saturday at some unknown time after 7 am, I will be standing in a crowd of swimmers in my wetsuit ready to run down the beach into the kelpy water of the Monterey Bay to begin the first leg of the triathlon. I really cannot believe it. And yet, there is a part of me that knows I am ready for this. I know that the collective spirit of all the people I am thinking of or remembering as I do this will help propel me ever forward, through the fear and the pain and whatever else might surface as I plod through. Either my t-shirt or my body will be covered in names of people who inspire me to continue. This is amazing!! Thanks for all of your support. It is almost here, and almost over. Stay tuned.