Will Run For T-Shirt

race swag

I'll run for a t-shirt.  I'll even swim, bike and then run for a t-shirt.  

I'll swim, bike and run for bagels and oranges

I'll even swim, bike and run for apples

note to self: there is no second chance if you pass up the donuts.

Lots of people will swim, bike, and run for donuts.

St. Joseph Coffee Roasters I love you!

Or even better they'll swim, bike, and run for coffee & donuts

It's interesting how chunks of fruit & pieces of bread become so much more exciting when you've survived lakeweed ( a.k.a seaweed), peddled your bike up hill for 10K and then death gripped your handle bars as you barrelled down hill for another 10K and ran 5K for good measure (and that's the sprint distance).

I recently decided to step WAY outside of my comfort zone and compete in the St. Joseph Triathlon.  It seems that I'm afraid of fish, snakes, weeds, drowning, road rash, flat tires, and the list goes on.  There were many nightmares about showing up for the triathlon without a shirt, not being able to get to the water, being late, etc.  My goal was survival to finish the race smiling (up until the race began I  wasn't entirely convinced that I wasn't going to drown or be run over by my own bike).

It turns out that I had TONNES of fun!  Surprisingly the swim was my favourite part.  I kept thinking as I was swimming "this is so awesome", "Oh, my goodness this is so awesome", "I love this" (I'm sure that's what everyone else was thinking).   I was even able to laugh my way through the seaweed that was plastered to my goggles at one point.

See the person in the lead?  That's not me.

My goal for the bike portion of the event was to just get through it without falling off or getting a flat tire.  It seemed the first 10K of the race was up hill.  At one point I was even convinced that there had to be something wrong with the bike because I was moving so slowly (nope, turns out it was just another hill).  There were a few sketchy corners and a little bit of wobbling but the bike ride wasn't as awful as I had imagined (did I mention that the only person that I biked faster than was approximately 25 years older than me?).

Finally, there was the run.  I have never been so happy to run. 

I look forward to my next finish line.   Ottawa here I come!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for oatmeal cookies, bananas and chocolate soy milk.