10 years

** edited because I realized I can't do math first thing in the morning, I am not quite ready for a sub 2 hour Oly :) **

I realized this morning as I put on old tri t-shirt over my bathing suit, that 2009 marks 10 years since my first triathlon. The shirt was from my first triathlon -- the 1999 Bally’s US Triathlon Series. I was woefully unprepared for the Olympic distance race in hilly Austin.

I breast stroked the entire swim. I waited in transition for my even slower male friend (he started in a different wave), then we rode mountain bikes (he actually borrowed my hubby’s bike and didn’t know much about shifting) and then suffered through the run, depleted of nearly all energy because we did not have any sort of nutritional understanding or plan whatsoever. I remember the volunteer handing me an energy bar on our way out of the transition to the run and it tasted like heaven.

I can only imagine what the more experienced athletes around us were thinking as I was just hanging out in transition. We did finish though and I actually got hardware, first in my age group. Impressed? You shouldn’t be … I was the only person in my age group!

I think my time, adjusted for the extra time I spent in transition waiting, was 3:32. I am hoping to be racing nearly 45 minutes faster than that this weekend. I remember thinking at the time that it was the most difficult thing I had ever done. What a difference a decade makes, oh and actually training and respecting the distance!

Some of you are still probably thinking … why is she wearing a 10 year old shirt?