My First Triathlon!

 This Sunday morning saw me braving the wet & wild weather down by the River Mersey preparing to compete in my first triathlon! Alone in the transition area after my friend Kate & I had registered I felt a little small & lost! (Kate was in a different race distance to me that started half an hour before my wave). My bike felt like a 'cheap' bike next to the Cannondale & Claude Butler bikes & my Aldi wetsuit was entirely inferior to the Orca wetsuit wearing competitors who knew exactly what they were doing & where they were going!! I couldn't do my wetsuit zip up so had to ask the man stood next to me for help. My mobile phoned refused to send or receive texts for some reason so I didn't get all the messages of support until long after I had completed the triathlon! But all was not lost! I am never truly alone because God is always with me. As I stood in my wetsuit, bare feet on the wet, cold tarmac, the bells of Liverpool Cathedral peeled out across the waters. I felt as though God was reassuring me that His Spirit was there washing over the whole area. I felt peaceful.

 I made my way down to the swim start, barefoot. several of us wished the race organisers had told us that there was quite a walk over cobbles, stones & gritty tarmac from the transition area to the swim & that flipflops would be a good idea! I know for next time. Still, I took my time & made it to the start in time to see my friend begin her swim (although I have no idea which one she was as everyone was wearing black wetsuits & yellow swim caps!). My wave wore blue swim caps & included the youth supersprint racers. Some of them looked very young & extremely nervous! The water was freezing! It literally takes your breath away when you jump (or plop in as I did!) in. When the claxon sounded I hung back to let the fast swimmers go so as to avoid being crushed or kicked. Slow & steady was my plan, 'Don't compete, just complete!' was my race moto. Within moments of the start several swimmers either side of me backed out of the race & were towed to dry land by the water safety canoes. I just kept swimming, slow & steady! Half way round my goggles steamed up & I could hardly see anything! The safety canoe men either side of my little group of swimmers were fantastic, encouraging us all along & keeping us motivated. The water was choppy because of the windy weather, something I had no experience of when swimming in the docks even though I have done several training sessions in there over the past few weeks. I completed the 400m swim in 14 minutes (although the official time is 17 minutes due to the fact that the time chip sensor is way up the top of the ramp so we all had to stumble out of the water & climb a hill before the time chip on each of our ankles registered that we had completed the swim).

 From there it was back over the stony ground, barefoot to take off my wetsuit, dry my feet before putting on my socks, running shoes, jumper & bike helmet. I was pretty pleased to discover that this took me 4 minutes. Not bad! I unracked my bike & ran to the cycle mounting line which was, again, quite a long way! I was still very soggy from the swim but I really didn't mind at all! Lee & the kids plus some friends were all waiting to cheer me on. What a blessing it was to have them there encouraging me! I grinned all the way round the 20k bike course. It was a LOT of fun! I did enjoy overtaking folk even though most of them then overtook me before I overtook them again a little later on & so forth! My legs felt like lead by the time I got back to the bike dismount line. The ride took me 30 minutes.

 I walked as quickly as I could back to transition to rack my bike again before heading out to the run. This time I was only in transition for 1 minute 59 seconds! I had already decided before I got to the triathlon start that I was going to mostly walk the run section because I had spent most of the week running up to race day in bed with a nasty cold. I didn't want to pull out of the race, but nor did I want to push myself so hard I would regret it. In hind sight I wish I had pushed myself a little harder as I feel that I had it in me. Still, no matter! A 2.5k walk in 22 minutes it was. I was still grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat & so pleased with myself for nearly completing my first triathlon!

 I ran the last leg up to the finish line to see & hear my family & friends cheering me on. I was over the moon to see the time on the clock said 12:15 because that meant I had completed the triathlon in 1 hour 15 minutes (official time chip total says 1 hour 16 minutes). Not bad at all for a first attempt at less than full health I reckon!

 I'm very proud of the medal I won! I've never won a medal in my whole life so that makes this one extra special!

I reaslised I was still wet from the swim in the docks at this point as the wind was blowing rather strongly around the corner here- it blew my hat off during the run at one point! There was time to pose for a 'Yes I did it!' photo in front of the Albert Dock & the Liverpool Eye with my children before I headed back to transition to get my coat, leggings, soggy wetsuit & bike. I absolutely & wholeheartedly enjoyed the whole experience & I am looking forward to completing my next triathlon very soon! And of course, I didn't just do the triathlon for the fun of competing! I swam, rode & ran (or walked mostly!) to raise money for Stop The Traffik an organisation that helps to bind up the broken hearted & to bring freedom for those who have been sold into slavery all over the world today. If you would like to sponsor me please go to my Just Giving page here  Thankyou!