You wanna give it a "tri"?

Saturday was the Echo Triathlon preview. Basically, they take you out on the course and let you see what you will actually be racing the following week. I will not actually be doing the race on July 14th. But, just to prove how crazy I am, I went and did the preview! When you start hanging out with triathletes, the natural progression is to become a triathlete yourself. Because I want to eventually do a triathlon, my friend Mike decided it would be a good idea for me to go so I could experience an open water swim. And, as long as I was there swimming, I may as well bike and run too! Swimming in a lake is very different than swimming at the pool. First, the water is not clear, you can only see about two feet below you. Second, there are no lane markers and the water is much rougher. Despite all that, I managed to swim the 400 yards round trip that had been designated for the swim. I was a bit slower than usual, but we would also stop and wait for the group to catch up. Wearing a wet suit makes a huge difference as I could float no matter what. The most important thing to note here is that 2 people had to be pulled out of the lake by the lifeguards, and I was not one of them. After the swim, it was onto the bike. Fortunately, my friend Mike was kind enough to stay with me on the bike. (He has done numerous triathlons and is significantly faster than me on the bike, but he stuck with me the whole time!) I did what was probably my fastest bike and got a lot of tips on how to shift when riding hills. At one point, my chain popped off, but thanks to Mike's vast knowledge and experience, I was able to get my chain back on track without even stopping. I made the whole distance without falling off once! Now, I've just got to learn to drink while I'm biking. The last thing to do is run, my favorite part. It is the one discipline in a triathlon that I am confident and comfortable with. Unfortunately, by the time I got to run, I was pretty worn out. Nonetheless, I managed to do a decent run and finished what I had set out to do. I proved to myself that I can complete all three parts of a triathlon, even if I am a bit slower than I would like. I must admit that I have a greater respect and appreciation for those who currently do triathlons......it was tougher than I thought. However, I do see why people do them. Now, I just have to determine which triathlon I will choose to be my first---decisions, decisions!