Well, we are all back from Hawaii, tanned, (aka sunburned), and now officially triathletes.
The weekend went well for almost everyone - We got off to a rough start with TWO airlines going bankrupt in the week we took off. ATA stopped flying the day we left, and two of our team mates got stranded in Seattle - Which really sucks after training long and hard, and fundraising all winter!
The rest of us made it to Hawaii Thursday afternoon. Friday morning and Saturday morning we arose very early and did some mini tris to get used to the area. Friday we walked along the hard part of the run course (full of chunky coral, and sand), had our first open water swim of the season in A bay, (where the tri would take place), and then retrieved our bikes, and did a short bike ride. (I saw two turtles on our swim!)
Probably one of the best parts about doing the event with Team in Training is seeing everyone overcome their fears over the course of the training and event. Much of the team are first time triathletes, many of whom are new to at least one of the 3 parts of the tri. My room mate spot (Elizabeth) - was relatively new to swimming when she signed up for it back in November. Plus she was scared of the open/deep water. The first day in the water she was obviously very nervous, but different team mates talked her through a few practice swims, and I believe her nerves where much calmed by Sunday, though of course we were all still nervous.
Well, Sunday came, and went, and everyone did great! Spot finished the swim, then went on and did the bike and run...My mom shaved 45 minutes off her time from last year. Kyle - also his first tri - Was ahead of his predicted times, for all the events... that is until he managed to hurt himself with only 2 miles of the run to go! He still finished (and much faster than me), then went straight to the med tent.. and later the hospital and crutches! It turned out to be just a bone bruise.
While I personally was a little slower than I had hoped for (only 10 minutes faster than last year), I was still happy I had done it again... I was much more confident in all three of the events compared to last year - though my feet hurt in the run - I had been meaning to buy new running shoes for a while... and never got around to it.
And I was especially happy that my mom and I inspired so many other people to join us this year. My mom and I were joined by spot, Kyle (the bf), Scottie (a friend of my moms) and my dad... All completing their first triathlons.
Next year hopefully we'll cross the finish line with an even bigger group :) - any of you ready to do a tri ?
And Last, but definitely not least - our seattle team of triathletes raised over $300,000 for cancer research! So thank you everyone for your support throughout this season.
