I AM A TRIATHLETE.

That's right peeps - I did it. I am a triathlete AND I wasn't even last!

We got to the race at 6am to check in and get ourselves all ready for the day. Kevin, as always, was so amazing - had all my drinks ready, food, snacks cold and race ready - I feel bad for people that don't have him as their team support! From the moment I woke up until the moment I started to swim I was never nervous - not even a little. I was completely ready and excited to get the race started. The swim was not what I expected as we had to walk way out in the gross water to a spot over our heads to wait for a whistle/gun/"go" which no one ever really heard but alas someone started to go so we all went for it. The swim was hard, much harder than I had imagined it to be. I had trouble finding my rhythm and felt as if I was just not moving forward at all. About 2 minutes into the swim I felt my timing chip coming loose so I tried to float for a second and fix it and then it was gone. Everytime I looked up during the swim, it didn't seem like I was any closer to the double buoy as if I was going nowhere fast! When I did make it and turned around to go back to shore, the shore seemed to never be moving closer to me either. But 14 minutes later (or somewhere around there bc I lost the chip I don't really know my times) I was on the shore ripping off my wetsuit making my way to T1. On to the bike, this was the highlight of the day since I knew the EXACT course. I've ridden this course 4 times already and knew every turn and every climb (which is basically the whole damn thing - climb, climb, climb). There was a girl in front of me on a mountain bike, wearing sneakers and a SKIRT and I thought for sure I could smoke her but I could not catch her the whole time. All back to the point of, "it's not about the bike". So damn annoying. But the ride was good, my goal was under an hour but I did it in 1:07, again I think since no chip. On top of no chip, my bike computer decided to stop working as well so all I had was my wrist watch to keep my time. Thankfully I have been on this course so many times I knew where the miles were and I knew how much further I had to go otherwise I think I would have freaked out not knowing where the climb ended.

Rolled into T2 and everyone was screaming!!! So many people it was kind of confusing - I couldn' see the "dismount" sign anywhere but just headed in that direction. I was trying to spin my legs to get rid of the lactic acid in my legs in order to run. That, my friends, is one of those "tricks" that competitve athletes tell you to do - it doesn't work. The only thing that could have helped my legs was a new set of legs, another person running or a motorized scooter! The run was a measly 4 miles - seems easy enough but I think they moved the cones. The first 2 miles were up a 90 degree angle, at least that's how it felt. I looked ahead of me and saw many, many people walking so I also walked quite a bit - almost the entire first 2 miles. I figured I could run the 2 miles back since it was down hill. At one point I figured the race director decided not to post mile markers bc certainly I'd already gone at least a mile...no such luck. The water station was the first mile and the lovely volunteer giving out water said, "this is the 1st mile". I almost threw my water at her. FINALLY made it to the turn around and figured - this is it, this is the end, 2 miles left and I'm done. This I can do. I tried to run as much as I could the last 2 miles in order to get my time in under an hour (4 miles in an hour is fairly pathetic but at this point I just wanted to finish at any time!). My only goal at this point was not to let anyone see my walking once I got into the parking lot where the finish line was and all my adoring fans! Make is seem as if I were running an 8 minute mile the whole time.

Running in was so great - my entire team was there. Team Lipstick totally took over the entire race and it was great to run to the finish line towards the team, Kevin and my sister! Since I crossed the finish line alone it was like my very own private race! So awesome, great feeling - all the hard work finally paid off. I crossed the finish line. I am a triathlete. Hard to believe, but true. Watch out world...anything is possible.

Peace out and I'll see you at the next race - thanks for joining me for the ride.