I hadn’t mentioned this Tri at all as I had sort of forgotten about it and also didn’t train for it, lol!!

Awhile ago, my buddy Team Fox Jen had mentioned this race hosted by my alma mater, Arizona State University, and I jumped at the chance to visit my old stomping grounds. They offered a Beginner (200yd swim, 6 mile bike, 1.5 run) and Advanced option (4ooyd, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run). I went with the Beginner because of the shorter swim 😀

A bunch of my Moms Run This Town friends also signed up and that made me less jittery as the last time I had been in a pool was for my last/first tri in March. Eeeek!

I was in Heat 1 and the only one of my friends in the first heat. I was a little nervous going first and having everyone see me suck at swimming but I knew that my friends were nothing but supportive and that it would actually help me having them there cheering me on.

The swim was done in an outdoor pool and it was a 25 yd lap so I had to do 8. I was nervous counting and intent on making sure I didn’t do any extra, lol!

I took my time, knowing this was not my strength. I stopped at the end of each lap to catch my breath and didn’t care. I think I was the third to last one out, but it was no matter to me.

From there, we dried off, put our clothes/shoes on, and then had to take a quick flight of stairs up to the room with bikes (we used indoor cycling bikes). I hopped on one and got going, adjusting the resistance.

I was pedaling away when I heard one of the volunteers say jokingly to an athlete, “30%??!!! Hike it up!!”

I had mine at 35% and thought, well, I guess I’m doing pretty good. An upbeat song came on the gym radio and I hiked the resistance up to 40 for a few minutes and then kept it between 30 and 40 for the duration of the 6 miles. I was able to make up a lot of time as I was one of the first three to get off the bike to the run.

The three of us jumped on treadmills next to each other and the guy next to me said, “Where are you going to start?” I had already set it to an 8:00 minute pace and I pointed to it. “Wow, okay!” he said.

I got focused knowing that I only had a mile and half. At half a mile, I put the setting to 7:30 pace. At a mile, to 7:00. And at the last .25 I set it to 6:53. I was running so fast the treadmill was shaking! One spectator pointed to the machine, shaking his head, smiling. I told him I was almost done so I was on a mission, lol!

As soon as I saw 1.5 on the screen, I jumped off to the finish line and presented them my arm #. I was the first one in my heat done!!!

41:18

The Advanced group had started and I went outside to wait for the second heat of Beginners (where most of my friends were). I cheered them all on as they started and then waited for each of them to finish to begin celebrating.

For a free event, we were given a certificate AND a medal. It was a pretty sweet deal!!

I wasn’t sure where I finished overall and had to wait til the next day for the results but when they came, I saw I had finished SECOND OVERALL in the beginner category–out of 14!! I was 52 seconds away from the leader, my good buddy Runner Jenny 🙂 I was so happy to see that I’d done so well considering that my swim is pretty awful. It makes me want to work on it more, lol!! I really think these past few weeks of pre-season training has helped me a ton as far as getting in shape. I felt really good despite not having trained for the event. I also don’t get nervous for things I’m not very good at so I think being relaxed and having zero expectations really helped me. I kinda wish I could be like that for races, ja!

Overall, it was such a fun event. We told the the directors so and that we all would totally participate in anything they decided to hold in the future. Go Sun Devils!! ❤

–When is the last time you visited your college (or high school)?

–Do you get more nervous for certain events versus others?