Jill's First Triathlon!

On Sunday morning, I competed in a local sprint triathlon, but instead of telling you my boring stories all over again, I thought I'd do it through the eyes of Jill, my work friend. This was her VERY FIRST triathlon, and she only started swimming at the beginning of the summer!

Jill is up for anything, and she seems to be very much of the attitude that trying anything once won't kill her. Last January she decided she wanted to run a half marathon in May...and she did it! This summer she jumped on the bandwagon of triathlons.

The packet pickup was on Saturday night at the park where the race would be located. Jill drove down, and her boyfriend Brian came too.

I chaperoned from the backseat (no fighting! keep your hands to yourself! jk!)

Of course, road construction threw a wrench in the plans, but we re-routed and got there eventually. We picked up our packets and got back on the road.

Saturday morning, I drove us down to the park with our bikes.

We set up our transition area.. The ground was wet, so I shared my old pink towel. Little did I know it would so completely complement Jill's ultra pink racing scheme.

Yep, that's her pink bike, running shirt, goggles, and swim cap. On the pink towel. Did I mention pink makes me want to puke?

We donned our noob caps and lined up for the start.

The swim was in a yucky, cold lake...and I forgot how viciously competitive sprint tris are! We had to swim 500m (1/3 mile or so) and the water temp was 68 degrees. It was actually so chilly and fast that my muscles felt super tight and we had trouble keeping a good stroke. That, and all the ladies who were kicking and swimming over us!

Jill emerged from the water victorious 12.5 minutes later!

She got right down to getting her clothes on and starting the bike leg of the tri. Now, the bike was 14.4 miles of gently rolling country highway out-and-back. Going out, we were speeding along, it wasn't too bad. The hills didn't slow you don't more than a couple MPH. Then the turnaround came. And the WIND was AWFUL. Wow. It killed us both. But Jill endured long enough to finish and move on to the run.

Now, it was coming up around noon by this time because this race starts later than most. And it was sunny, kind of hot, and definitely windy. The run was a little brutal, but was miraculously flat and there were lots of opportunities to see people around you. Jill did a great job of pacing herself, and soon enough she trampled across the finish line announcing exactly what she was going to do differently next time. She's a trooper!

There's Jill and our photographer Brian (thanks Brian!)!

Now she's finishing her training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon...and planning for her next triathlon season! Go Jill!

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And, as a very last note, I also did the race. The bike leg was indeed brutal. I did 7.5 miles in 20 minutes...and the remaining 7 miles took over 30 minutes. Otherwise, I did a good job of pushing myself and finished feeling just fine. I actually walked the course back to where Jill was and ran in again with her. I hadn't been training for speed this summer, so it wasn't my fastest race, but I certainly feel good about it.

Also, thanks to the race organizers for a great race!