One of Chris' friends asked him back in May if he would do a sprint triathlon with him. Chris said no way, but that I might be up for it. I've actually always wanted to do one. I swam on my high school swim team and have always loved to ride a bike (you can't survive 4 years at UCSB without being a pro on a bicycle). Even though I don't like running, I've done a few 5k's and even ran a 10k a few years ago. So, a triathlon has been on my "bucket list" for a while and I figured why not now! Once I committed to the training, Chris took up the challenge as well, and we ended up both doing the Carpinteria Sprint Triathlon on Sunday, September 25. It was a 1/2k swim, 15k bike, and 5k run. Being that neither of us are the most dainty of people, we qualified to race in higher weight groups. Chris raced as a Clydesdale and I raced as an Athena!
I felt pretty good coming out of the water. During the training, my biggest challenge was overcoming my fear of open water (you know...all those creatures!) After a few ocean swims I realized I didn't really even think about it when I was out there swimming.
Swimming was the most difficult for Chris. This is true for many people who do a triathlon, so he's not alone. He trained a lot in the pool just to be able to swim a long distance and not drown! He did great!
It was raining during the race, so the roads were pretty slick. We saw quite a few people skid and take pretty hard falls.
I struggled through the run part with a strained calf muscle that I had been nursing for the last month of my training. I managed to hobble the last 2 miles and wasn't that much slower than my normal slow running pace!
We finished and survived! We are even planning on doing it again next year!
Do we have a future triathlete on our hands?
Well done!!! It does look as if Nicholas is ready to join.
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