Triathlon # 4

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Nairn, Mark, Leslie (Me) ~ before the race ~ two of my brothers

So, my brother John was also signed up to run this with us again, but something came up... so this was Mark's second and Nairn's first... and again, I am so proud of them.

Leslie (Me), Kerianne, Wendy ~ before the race

This one was Kerianne's second and our friend Wendy's first.

So, this time around, I had decided that I was going to try to train a little bit for this one. So, about two and a half weeks before the triathlon, I started running. I started out running a mile a day for a couple of days, then went up to a mile and a half for a couple of days, then up to two miles, then up to two and a half, then up to three for the last couple of days of running. I also swam laps once a week for those couple of weeks. I don't have a bike, so I did not go biking at all beforehand. I have to say, though... this time I felt so much better as I did this race. The run this time was much more enjoyable (if you can call it that). I felt like my body was a little more prepared this time and I really did feel better than I have the other times when I didn't train. So, I don't think I will be doing anymore of them without training because of feeling better.

The left photo is of me coming into the transition area at the end of my run on my way to pick up my bike. I guess I was enjoying it enough to do the I LOVE YOU in sign language. Who knew that I could actually ENJOY this stuff? :) The right photo is of me coming into the transition area at the end of the bike part to get ready for the swim.

Kerianne and her bike. Me and my borrowed bike.
So here is a really great story... about 5 days before the triathlon, I had a bad dream that I got to the triathlon and I finished the first part and went to get my bike and it was not there. I realized in the dream that I had forgotten to borrow a bike. So, I had no bike. The rest of my dream was spent trying to find a bike to borrow just to be able to finish the race. I woke up and was so happy that it was just a dream. Well, later that day, I got a message on facebook from a friend of mine, Tawni, and she told me that she had remembered from last year when I used a mountain bike for this race and she was asking me if I wanted to borrow her bike for this year's race. I couldn't believe it. The very day after I had that bad dream... Tawni must have been inspired to offer. THANK YOU TAWNI !!! What a blessing!

Mark with his bike. Nairn on his bike.

Aaron Jr in the pool area watching me swim.
Thank you to Richard (my brother) for taking most of these photos. Richard and Kara were there to watch the whole race. Other family members and friends came later towards the end. It is so nice having people there to cheer us on. It really pumps me up.

This is me doing my signature stroke... the back stroke. I ALWAYS do the back stroke. I am not a strong swimmer doing the freestyle, so I do the back stroke. I should probably learn how to do the freestyle better, but I really love the back stroke, so for now... I am totally fine with this one.
The right photo is of me right after I crossed the finish line. My brother Mark is in the photo at the top left.

Mark and Nairn after the race. SO proud of them. Such a feeling of accomplishment. Again, this was Nairn's first, but Mark beat his time from his first one by quite a bit. SO great.

Wendy, Kerianne, and Me after the race. Wendy came in second place in her age division. WOW. Nice. I am just happy that I finish each time and that I continue to beat my times each time. That is all I can ask for. Kerianne beat her last time as well.

Now I have a couple of funny - ish stories to share.

Okay, this will illustrate how far I have come with this triathlon stuff. A couple of years ago, Kerianne asked me to go to a one time class with her about triathlons. We thought we were going to be learning the proper training methods and stuff like that, but instead it was all about what type of gear to have and clothing to buy and how to cut down on the transition times... it was kinda funny. At the beginning of the class, the instructor asked each person why they wanted to do a triathlon? Each person gave a great answer about the challenge of it or whatever... when she got to me, I simply said 'I hope to someday even have the DESIRE to WANT to do a triathlon.' I don't remember my exact wording, but it was something like that. I didn't realize that I would sound so unmotivated, but everyone laughed including me. But I still NEVER EVER EVER thought I would have the desire to do one.

But then last year, I wanted to do something to challenge myself and when Kerianne and I saw the posters for the triathlon, we agreed we would do one.

The last triathlon back in May, I had two brothers and one brother in law doing it and I had three sisters in law doing it as well... I did not feel ready AT ALL, but I am competitive, and I hate to be left out of things, so I went for it even though I was hating life as far as feeling pretty out of shape. Well, after the swim, when I started on my bike... I was about 100 yards into the bike portion when up ahead of me I saw a boy on his bike kinda swerve in front of a lady on her bike. That swerve made the lady crash pretty bad, lucky for her she was still right by the Rec center and there were people right there to help her immediately. As I passed by her on my bike, I was hating it so much, I thought to myself... 'I wish I could have crashed right here by the Rec center so that I had an excuse not to finish the race.' Looking back, I can't believe I considered that lady to be lucky because she didn't have to finish the race AND she had a valid reason. It makes me laugh when I think about that now. I now realize that with a little bit of work beforehand, it makes them a little more enjoyable and I hope I never feel like crashing on my bike is more desirable than continuing on in the race.

I guess this story could relate to life in general. If we are not prepared for the difficult times of our lives, we might wish to be taken from this life so that we don't have to finish the race or deal with the tough times. So I guess our trials may not seem quite as tough if we are prepared and strong spiritually. Then maybe we will all be able to say this:

'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.'
- 2 Timothy 4:7

Anyhow, I didn't plan for this triathlon posting to turn spiritual, but there you have it.

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