FINISHED!

I am officially a triathlete. I have the Danskin 2007 medal to prove it! My first triathlon was this morning and it was AWESOME! I felt good doing it, I felt good when I finished and I feel great several hours later after a shower, some food and a nap.

I expected to take 2 hours, 15 minutes, maybe 2.5 hours to finish. I estimated the following.

Swim- 30 min
Bike - 50 min (maybe an hour - there are lots of rolling and some steep hills)
Running - 40 min
Transition area total - 10 min

Here are my final times (modern technology has this posted to the web already!)

I finished 1352 of 2601 and I have a class rank of 91 of 389 - not sure what that means other than I did better than nearly 300 others.

Swim: 23:29
Bike: 49:33- avg 15.7 mph
Run: 35:05 - 11:19/min mile
Transition1 5:46
Transition2: 4:46 (which included a pee break)
Final: 1:58:51

I finished in less than 2 hours, going faster in every category! My bike ride was awesome. I was just cruising past athletes the whole time. I love my road bike. The swim was good. There was some doggy paddling involved as I negotiated around swimmers. Running was hot and hard, but I still did better than I expected.

The event itself was pretty inspiring. 3000 women of all shapes, sizes and ages (and I do mean all) hauling ass in the Texas heat. Everyone was friendly and supportive. Volunteers and spectators were out in droves.

I am really proud of myself. I've trained for 11 weeks, and was definitely ready. I missed only 4 workouts, 3 due to travel. I am in better shape than I've ever been. Two weeks ago, I swam 1/2 mile on Friday, ran 4.1 miles on Sunday and biked 28 miles on Sunday. I have discovered a new activity I love - road biking.

I am not sure what I am going to do now that I don't *have* to work out 6 days a week, but I hope to keep up with my newly cultivated muscles. They aren't big, but they are mine.

I am totally doing this again next year. Now who is coming with me?! I need partners!

Kent and Erin took many pictures of me, which I will post after I get them and filter out the really embarrassing ones.

Kent, Kate, Erin and Susanne get big props for hauling out to East Austin this morning to see me. Kent left with me at 5:45 am. It was so great to see friends cheering me on as I went through my events. Thanks guys!

See more pics here!