Yesterday, I was #307, out of about 350ish triathletes.
The body marking “tattoo” is always awesome. When I was younger my boyfriend did tri’s and I always loved the environment. Something energizing and inspiring about it. I never EVAH’ eva’ thought that I would actually participate in one. EVER!! Did I mention ever???? Yesterday was my 4th triathlon event.
I was slow. But I finished – 250M swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K walk/run (which, I swear, was uphill in *both* directions!!) It was great to see so many different types of people out there. There were clearly elite, olympic-type athletes there, and then there were people with physical challenges, and people who were there (like me) just to challenge their self rather than compete for a specific time.
This was #1 out of 3 for this summer. I’m really really glad that I did it. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I expected I would be. It was really nice having it so close – I even got up a tiny bit later than I do during the week, so it wasn’t one of these crazy-up-at-4am events. My plan is to use my 3 events this summer as more of a way to gather some baseline data & then make some realistic goals for next year. I’ll do the same 3 (and maybe even more!) next year and I’ll be able to compare them over time.
That’s the plan right now anyway! Maybe I’m still on the endorphin high or just excited that I got through it and didn’t die. My goal was to finish and not die! Either way, #2 is on the horizon and now that I’ve had my recovery 2 mile walk this afternoon, it’s time to set some goals for the next one – which I believe is going to be quite hilly.
CHANDRA GREEN 
Fantastic. Congrats.