Race Report – Alabama Sports Festival Triathlon

I am officially a triathlete!!!!!! If anyone had told me a few months ago I would do a triathlon, I would have laughed in their face. But when I went to the Gulf Coast Triathlon and had so much fun, I knew I had to try it out myself. Six weeks of training led me to today! My friend Keith told me that he would do my first triathlon with me and I held him to it. Below is our pic after the race. Chris rode up with him and helped cheer us on and take pictures. My Montgomery peeps, Allison and Justin, also came up and I really am so very, very blessed to have such great friends. I love you all! Now to the race!

The venue was Oak Mountain State Park. Remind me not to do my first triathlon up the side of a mountain. Oh wait. Nevermind. I already did! Packet pick-up started at 6:30. We got there a little late but it was no big deal because the youth race was first. Let me start by saying those little kids are awesome! I was so impressed with their determination! And they were so darned cute! Once the kids were finished, the adult racers were called in to hear the rules and course directions. By this time, it was already past 8:30 and it was HOT!

The Swim—I think I’ve mentioned that I’m not a great swimmer. And today was no different. We started single file in 5 second intervals and I felt pretty good at first. As soon as people started passing me, I got psyched out and it fell apart from there. One of my objectives for this race was to learn what to expect. I learned that 1) I need to seriously focus on my swimming. It is by far my weak point. 2) I need to mentally prepare for the swim. I really just got messed up about it. 3) I need to get out of the pool and practice more open water swimming. I’ve been somewhat joking when I said I would be the last one out of the lake. Well, I wasn’t last but I was definitely slow and there weren’t a whole lot of people behind me. However, I reached the shore (exhausted) and proceeded to transition 1.  I did manage to have a smile and I'm sure it was from something Chris had said as he was motivating me after the swim.  See below.

T1—Not bad. Rinsed my feet, put on shoes and helmet, and was on my way.

The Bike—Holy Moly. I’m not quite sure why I thought that this course would have minimal rolling hills. The state park is called “Oak Mountain” for a reason. I’ve only had my bike for a couple of months so I don’t have a lot of experience but that was the hardest bike ride EVER. It literally went uphill for what seemed like an eternity. At one point, I thought I might have to dismount and push the bike up the hill. On the flipside of that, the downhills were great. I coasted most of them because I was easily going 30mph and, once, I was actually a little scared. Don’t let me confuse you, though, thinking that it was uphill the first half and down the second. Oh no. There were a lot of steep hills in each direction. Made it back a little under an hour which was what I was kind of thinking so I felt pretty good about that. It also helped a lot to see my friends again all cheering me on through transition 2. And I manage to dismount my bike without falling so props to me for that!

T2—Racked my bike, pulled off bike shoes, slipped into running shoes (sans socks for both), pulled off helmet, slipped on sunglasses, visor, race belt, ate a Gu, and I was off on the run.

The Run—I’ve done the bike to run a couple of times so I knew to expect my legs to feel like blocks of lead…and they did. I kind of jogged with short steps and was certain I was probably barely moving. I didn’t wear my Garmin and just had a watch on but the first few minutes seemed to go by pretty quickly so I thought “I’ve got this!” I also knew that there were still some people behind me and, if I wanted to keep it that way, I was going to have to perform on the run. It was encouraging to hear the other runners that were headed back saying “good job” and “keep going”. I don’t know if everyone is like this but I feed on that. When I think there is no way I can take another step, a positive word will give me strength. Okay, so the first half of the run was uphill. Come on! Seriously? But I knew the second half would be down so I just kept running. When I got to the turnaround, the volunteer said “You run looks strong.” I said “Thanks. I’ve been running for awhile but swimming and biking is new to me. He said “You should be proud of yourself. This is a tough course.” And with that, I smiled and ran a little faster on the way back. The run was definitely the strongest leg of the race for me. I felt really good after the first five minutes or so and even better after mile 1. By the time I got to the finish line, I was beaming from ear to ear. I threw my arms up and basked in my finish. I finished a triathlon. I FINISHED A TRIATHLON! And my awesome friends were there supporting me.

In typical Shannon fashion, I had a hard time just accepting “You did great” and “Good job”. I said “Yeah, but…” I’m really working on that. After awhile, the disappointment about the swim went away and I started appreciating that I set a goal and I followed through with it. I’m not sure of my chip times yet but the gun time was 1:52 so I finished under 2 hours. I could not be more thrilled. I have a new goal in mind but I’m not going to blog about it yet. As Allison advised, I’m just going to “enjoy today and this race and don’t think about tomorrow.” Until tomorrow.  
NOTE:  I will be posting more pics and video later.