Tri-athalons and other stuff

So I finally did it - i finally got over myself and my fears enough to do my first tri. It was a sprint - and the swim ended up being a super super sprint because of the storm - but i still did it. and... i had fun.
Race re-cap:
I was nervous the night before - only because i was nervous about getting up so early and getting myself and my husband out the door with everything that we needed and getting Addy out the door before 6 a.m. I am not a morning person - oh i try - and for awhile there I thought that jen might be able to convert me - I'm better - preferring to do my workouts in the morning now - but by morning i mean 8 o clock ish... not 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. But i digress - I was worried Addy wouldn't sleep - and of course after weeks of sleeping at least 8 hours straight - she didn't have the best night. But we got out of the door on time - picked up my mother in law on the way and headed out to fairport harbor. In my haste to pack the family up for this race I never checked the weather report - i was assuming it was going to be like the rest of the weekend - hotter than hell. So it was a blessing and a curse that it was an overcast almost cool day when we got to fairport. They delayed the start of the race for awhile and talked of canceling the swim because of the waves - I really think the waves the boats made while we were practicing there the last few weekends were worse - but I understand they need to be cautious about lightening and people dying in the lake and all that.
Finally they decide we are going to go ahead and race - but that we will only be swimming out - not out and back... which was disappointing but at least my first tri wasn't going to turn into a duathlon. When my wave was waiting to start the storm really kicked in - Amie looked at me and said "i don't like this" I stayed calm though - when normally I would have freaked out thinking - well if amie said that - then it must be bad... but I was fine - I thought they might pull us out of the water - but then someone yelled "they said go" so we all took off. My first couple of strokes were beautiful - just like in the pool - and then i started getting kicked and hit - i know i know nature of the beast but i panicked a bit - and ended up kind of letting people go by so that i could have my own patch of water. Next time i'm going to head out to the outside of the swim lane - i may swim farther but then i wouldn't be pinned between a rope and a bunch of morons that want to punch me in the head.
As I got out of the water I waved at my dad and my mother in law and said quite enthusiastically "i didn't drown" I headed to transition where i may as well as layed down had a snack, watched a movie, and read a book for the time it took me to get in and out. The lense in my glasses was broken and kept falling out... i couldn't get my gloves on because they were soaked etc... it was ridiculous - but finally I got on the bike - got up the short steep hill with no problem - even passed a few girls on it. I haven't ridden my bike outside in over a year - and have just recently been riding on the trainer once a week for about 12 miles so i was hoping just to finish and hold around 16 mph. Well I just started riding and I looked down and I was fluctuating between 18-20 mph and I was passing people like crazy. I decided to not get all crazy and see if i could just hold around 18 - having never done this before i didn't want to kill myself on the way out and then not be able to maintain it on the way back. So i just started passing people - it was so much fun - i realized that the reason i was passing so many people was because my swim and transition were that bad! I think everyone in my wave must have been out of the water way ahead of me! I decided not to dwell on that and just focus on the fact that despite the ran i was having a great time.
After I hit the turn around point on the bike I saw Jen coming. I have to say - if i didn't know her she would have made me nervous - she looks so tough on that bike! I knew she was going to get me - despite the 5 minute lead I had on her - so I spent awhile trying to figure out how fast she must have been moving to make up 5 minutes in that short of a bike ride. Anyway I finished the bike ride without incident - didn't fall or break my neck or anything. Second transition went much better - b/c I wore my cages on my bike i didn't need to change shoes. I ran up the hill out of transition and was amazed at the amount of water sloshing around in my shoes. I was certain that I would be moving at around a 10 minutes pace - i figured that was about all i had in me.... but then as i was passing guys who started 10 minutes before me I decided to check my garmin and realized i was running and 8:20 something - which I know isn't lightening fast - but for someone who not exactly back into their fighting shape/weight and has never done one of these things I was excited! I finished the run strong - getting my pace down closer to 8.
I have no idea what my final time was - I don't know how i placed. I could have been dead last in my age group and I would have no idea.... but I don't care (ok i care a little) I'm just glad jen finally convinced me to do this - and I'm looking forward to my next race. I think I'll stick with sprints this summer - i know the distance is manageable and so next time i'll go harder on the bike and run - knowing that I can do this! Oh and congrats to jen on finishing 3rd in her age group - that is so cool!