It's official...I'm a triathlete!!!! :)

Yeah!!! I did it! I'm so sorry I haven't written sooner, be prepared this is a long blog...

Here's how it went, I had planned on getting a good 7 0r 8 hours of sleep but that didn't happen. I wound up going to bed at 11:15 and woke up at 4:15 so you can see that does not equate. I had my bags ready the night before so all I had to do was throw my clothes on when I woke up.

I picked up my new triathlete friend Arlene (I got her to sign up & join me in the race) around 5, we got to the race parking lot around 5:45/6am. As we were taking our bikes out of the car there was a coach instructing his students about do's and dont's, precautions etc. etc. of course you know the two of us were soaking it all in lol.

You sign in at the transition area and just pick a spot where you want to put your bike and gear. For those of you that don't know transition area is the area where you go after each stage of the race to check in, change etc. When we were done setting up our stuff we looked around and realized everyone had their bike facing in the opposite direction from what we had and their stuff was set up parallel rather than horizontal (like we had); so we switched it all around. Next we were off to get body marked, followed by a mandatory meeting, then off to the beach for a warm-up swim.

I was very happy we got to warm up because I was nervous about my swim. I haven't really trained in my swimming and I knew I was going to be slow. I mean I couldn't really expect anything but that because I really only swam 2 times in the month of June, nothing in May and maybe a handful of times in March and April. So I definitely expected to be slow. I was in the 2nd wave so I started at 8:05. I wished I had a camera for the beautiful sight I saw when the first wave started. It was a vision, 100 - 150 swimmers in the ocean moving forward with the morning sun reflecting off the swim caps and water. I hope I never get tired of seeing that sight. Ok back to me about to swim, I'm in the water waiting for the bell to go off and I'm in the back of the group because I was slow and just didn't want to get kicked in the face - that would be bad.

The horn blasts and we're off! I started swimming and all I had to remember was just keep breathing. Don't hold my breath because that's what makes me more tired. Just keep the buoy in my sights and go straight. There was this girl that was to my left and she was slightly ahead so I tried to make sure I stayed near her. I didn't want her to get away from me. Next thing I know I was coming to shore and everyone was running to the transition. Let me tell you I was tired, I started running too and said "hell no I can't run this whole way I'll never have anything left!" But guess what? In that short walk break I surprised myself because when I got out of the water I looked at my HR monitor and I did it in half the time I thought it would take!! yeah! 1/4 mile swim check. I get to transition and strip out of my wetsuit and put on my gear for biking which I'll also stay in for my run.

You have to walk your bike from T1 to the mounting area...that's where I saw my new running buddy Julie, she had her camera and was snapping pics and cheering me on. I'll confess that right before I saw her I had been hoping my friends would make it cuz I really wanted an action pic of me haha and I got one! Biking is my strongest of the three sports. So I didn't really train for this either because I knew I could do it. However I had a few fears...one major one being that I'd get a flat!! Thankfully I didn't, but I saw at least 3-4 people with flats. While it was a flat course and I know I do well on flats I felt like I was going sooo slow. I actually thought my cyclometer was broken because it kept on saying 15 and 16mph for my speed. Finish on the bike get to T2 and switch my shoes for the really hard part...(sound of doom here) the run. As soon as I start running I get a stitch in my side and my legs feel kinda heavy. I feel tired and start thinking "damn those bricks why didn't I train doing them?" I have to walk because I was tired and I knew I had a whole 3.1 to run. So I started walking and trying to control my breathing then I'd start up again and run. I did this the first 1.5 miles especially the first 1/2 mile I felt like I had to walk every other minute. I get to the turnaround and I'm like yeah almost done! :) I see my friend Arlene just starting on her run and I keep going. All I'm telling myself throughout the run: "this is all I have to do. Get through the run. Run/walk run/walk. Today is my birthday. I couldn't even run 3 minutes 2 months ago now I'm running 3.1 miles. keep moving. You better make it in under 2 hours" this was my mantra. Next thing I see is my friend Arlene in front of me, I call to her and she stops. I told her to keep going she said she could take a break lol. It was awesome. Then she left me and I was thinking DAMN she's fast. But then I was approaching the finish line..I could hear the music. And all I could do was smile on my way in. Cuz I finished strong and with a smile on my face. I made it in under 2 hours!!!!! It was AMAZING. Guess what my offical time was? 1:47:24. How sweet is that? Below I posted my times for everything, best surprise of all was that I finished my swim in 1/2 the time I thought it would take, AND my cyclometer wasn't broken I really was going 15 or 16 mph. haha

Swim: 12:50 pace 51:20
Bike: 43:40 rate (or avg.?) 16.5
Run: 44:58 pace 14:31
Div/Tot: 36/37
Gen/Tot: 213/234

Final: 1:47:24

If you're wondering how my blood sugars were...well they weren't so good. I woke up ok, ate food and probably didn't bolus enough for it because an hour later I was close to 300. I gave a correction and got ready for the race. Right before I went out to do the warm up swim I checked and it had gone down only slightly, I think it was like 288. I changed my basal to 50% because I didn't want to have to worry about doing it during the course of the race. When I finished with my race swim I checked and I was 308! damn. I didn't do anything because I knew I still had like 3 units on board. So I kept it moving. I had planned on checking during the run portion but it didn't happen. I wound up checking when I finished the race and guess what I was? Like 180 I was like "sweet!" haha. Of course after the race I ate and my BG jumped back to 300 but then I did a correction and the rest of the day and night I was staying near 80-90 beautiful beautiful numbers.

I'll end this really long blog by saying I had an amazing 28th birthday. I did something I thought I'd never do especially in terms of running, I was able to share the day with great friends over food, I treated myself to a recovery massage. I thought of Val the whole day because the weather was so great and I really wanted to go to the pier with her and I know I'll never get to do it again. I miss her but I know she was with me that day. I also found another passion. Training for triathlons so I'm upping my Ironman schedule. I'll do Olympics and a 1/2 Ironman next year and the year I turn 30 I'll compete in my 1st Ironman. lol Having diabetes has brought me to all of this. A-Mazing :)

Til next time,
-J