Mighty Mermaid Triathlon

Wow, what an awesome race this year!!
Ross & I drove over to Santa Cruz this weekend for my triathlon that was held on Sunday, Sept 28th. The course was crazy-hard and quite a challenge, but I loved every single minute of it!! The triathlon I usually do is a Women's only Sprint distance race. However I had the option to participate in a double the distance for an Olympic triathlon & wowed myself by finishing it. Here's the scoop...
The swim was very cold! I think it was about 58 degrees outside & the water seemed to match the air...I was terrified of sharks, since we had to swim around a pier & old rusted ship that housed about 100 sea loins!! Great motivation to swim as fast as I could, since being in a wetsuit all us ladies probably looked like a sea loin!! The swim was harsh, having never raced in ocean water it took me more strength to swim into the currents & deal with the salt water. After going around the course once, being a "Mighty Mermaid" (the 50 of us crazy ladies who wanted to do the Olympic distance, got to do every thing twice!)I was worried about having to do the whole swim again! However my time of 31 minutes wasn't too bad for the 1/2 mile swim.
After the swim it was a hard run up the sandy beach and up 5 flights of wooden stairs...barefoot! By the time I made it back to my transition area I was a little winded & half frozen from the cold. However, with Ross' help I was able to have a quick change & off on my bike to the next round. The bike course was all street riding, which thrilled me at first! Lots of people cheering us on & beautiful scenery of the ocean & golf courses. However my excitement soon left me as I was faced with steep hills around every corner...they were so bad that many of the bikers had to get off the bike & run it up the hills. Yes, I was one of those bikers...only on 2 of them though. I seemed to struggle on the bike portion & lost a little bit of my time during my second go around, but then again I wasn't prepared for 22 miles of those dang hills. Something to work on I guess...
Any how, by the time I got back & ready for the run I was wiped out, but seeing Ross' huge smile & cheering me on made me ready to conquer this whole race! It was a great run, a little tough since 1) we had to run on the beach boardwalk covered in sand & 2) lots of people were out there walking & not getting out the way for us runners. A hill at mile 3 & at the end of the 5 mile run, only made me work harder to keep running. Having Ross actually run with me for 1/2 a mile really gave me that last little push I needed to find the energy to give it all I had left. Not sure what my official finish time...I know it had to be around 3 hours & I didn't come in last so I'm happy about that!
Let me tell you...crossing the finish line and having your husband hug you & kiss you and tell you how amazing you are...well it's better then any trophy then a girl can get. It never crossed my mind that I would ever become a triathlete, and even after doing a few races it's hard to use that title. However I'm proud to add that to my resume now, since after this tough race I think I deserve calling myself an athlete!!!
***Update*** My official time was 3 hrs 11 minutes, I placed 18th out of 52!! Woo-Hoo!!