I did it!! .... again!!!!

 This past Sunday was the Fort Collins Club triathlon! I participated and had a blast... again!! I think I'm officially hooked. :)

Here is the story, through pictures.

Saturday afternoon was the "first-timers" meeting and I went because this race was more official than the FE Warren one. We had to wear time chips around our ankles and everything. The man who was leading the meeting was hysterical. He handed out a "how-to" sheet that he wrote. It reminded us to go to the bathroom before the race at least 5 times and included tips like "don't pee in anyone's yard."

He also went through all of the different stages of the race in detail... to include all the wardrobe changes. As in, he literally changed clothes while going through the presentation. He was fully clothed at the beginning of the meeting, then after he went through how to get your transition area set up he said, "ok, now you're ready for the swim!" and proceeded to strip down to his speedo. After the tips for swimming, he went back to his transition area and demonstrated putting his clothes back on for the bike. So so so funny.

Sunday morning was an early one!! The transition area opened at 6am and I got there with my entourage at about 6:20am. The race was to begin at 7. It was dark, cold, and foggy when we got there!! Here I am getting all set up!!

The craziness that was the transition area!!

Getting ready for the swim!!

Me and the hubby before the race!

One of my top 2 cutest cheerleaders!!

More cheerleaders, waiting for the swim to start!

Swimming! I'm the one in the dark blue swim cap. For this race we did a "snake swim." So everyone started at the same end of the pool. You swim one length, duck under the lane and swim down the next lane and continue this process until you get to the other end of the pool where you exit and head to the transition area.

When you registered, you estimated your swim time (I estimated wrong because I thought the swim was 500 yards but it was only 450... oops). So then theoretically they start with the fastest swimmer first and the next fastest swimmer leaves 10 seconds later, etc etc.

This would have worked out great, except not everyone estimated their swim time correctly. So traffic jams happened. I'm the one on the right in this picture, trying to figure out how to pass all these peope.

There I am on the left, after successfully passing them. From here it was smooth sailing!!



I completed the 450 yards swimming in 8:27.

Here I am transitioning from the swim to the bike!

My transition time was 2:51.

The bike route was 3 laps around a pretty busy block in Fort Collins. This bike was much easier than the bike for the FE Warren triathlon. There were a few hills, but they weren't as steep as in the other race. Also the wind wasn't blowing as hard.

I completed the 13 miles biking in 43:11.

Here I am transitioning to the run!!

My transition time was 1:01.

And I'm off for the run!!

 I love that my friend Melanie caught this shot. This triathlon was more fun that the FE Warren one because there were so many more competitors! At the FE Warren triathlon, I hardly saw or passed or was passed by anyone, but at this race I was constantly surrounded by people. At the finish line, they had music playing and as you were running towards the finish there was an announcer who looked up your bib number and announced your name!! That was pretty cool. So this is me, being excited that I'm almost done and that my name was called. :)

 Running across the finish!!!

I completed the 2.5 miles running in 33:43 and my total time was 1:29:17!!

I was pretty excited about that!!

Funny story.... I ranked in the top 100 for my swim time, the top 150 for my bike time, and the.... bottom 20 for my run time. I guess I can keep working on my run!!! Ha. Like in the previous race, I ran for a few minutes, then walked for a few minutes. I think I actually did run for more time in this race than the previous one which I am pretty happy about. But yeah, I want to get better still.

I had a ton of cheerleaders!!! My hubby was there, along with my mom from Colorado Springs, my cousin who is a freshman at CSU, Louie and Luke from Fort Collins (at whose house the 4 of us stayed), and Matt, Melanie and Julia from Cheyenne!!! I felt so loved!!! Here's some shots of me with all my cheerleaders.

Yay, I did it again!!! The first time wasn't a fluke!!!! :)

After the race, Louie and Luke headed to church and the rest of us headed to a super cute, super yummy breakfast place.

Thanks so much to all my cheerleaders out there!! I appreciate it!!! And I think I've found a new hobby!!! :)

If you have ever had the slightest inclination to do a triathlon, you should definitely do it!! It was seriously so much fun. And with a little bit of training, you will do just fine. Let me know if you have any questions!!