I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!!!!!!!

I'm on cloud 9. I completed the impossible, well in my mind at least. I, ANNAH OFFTERMATT GARCIA, swam competitively (for the first time EVER in my life - was never on swim team or even took formal swim lessons for that matter), biked competitively (for the first time EVER - I've never ridden along side of more than 4 people. Oh and I did it on a mountain bike hybrid), and ran competitively (done this before, but not after swimming AND biking!). It felt AMAZING!

On Sunday me, and over a thousand other woman, woke up at the crack of dawn and made our way to Walter E Long park in Austin, to compete in the Danskin sprint triathlon. I was so incredibly nervous. I am a competitor. I like to set goals, and ideally, meet them. But never having competed in a triathlon, I figured I had to -begrudgingly- throw my goal time out the window. I didn't want to disappoint myself and yet, I didn't want to not push myself towards a goal. As a compromise, I wrote down three goals. An awesome goal - not necessarily realistic, but possibly do-able, A realistic goal, and a worst case scenario goal. Remember - I'm type A! I have to go over all possible scenarios as to not be disappointed! A little much you may ask, yes, I agree, but whatever works, right?!

Pre Race

Prenatal yoga buddy and driving force behind me actually signing up, Colleen  and I

Colleen's friend, Stacy, Colleen, and myself showing off our numbers (and tricepts!! LOL!)

When the first wave of swimmers started, I was still in line for the port-a-potty (for the second time). That's when I started feeling even more anxious than ever. This whole triathlon thingy that I signed up for was for real. No turning back. I had spent two months training, and training hard. I knew I was ready. No doubt.

Minutes before my wave was to start - nervous, but ready!

The swimming part of the triathlon scared me. I am not a confident swimmer, but I knew that if I had a positive swim, it would set a positive mood for the rest of the sprint. It wasn't until my feet hit the water and I worked my way up near the front of my wave, that I felt empowered. I could do this.  I just kept swimming, breathing, determined to free style the whole way, no turning on my back, no breast stroke, no noodles. My best time for the 800 meters during training was just over 23 minutes. I thought I'd be around 25-30 minutes day of. I got out of the water feeling strangely refreshed, I look down at my watch and it read 20 minutes! Not only did I survive the swim, but I beat my awesome category goal!!! When I stepped out of the water and started running up the hill to transition to get my bike, I decided I was going to do another one of these triathlons!

Out of the water and up the hill to transition 

A friend of mine, Faith, also doing the triathlon, shared the below quote with me a few days before the triathlon

I quoted this over and over during the biking leg. There were lots of hills, LOTS OF HILLS! I had to keep motivating myself in order to keep me from joy riding! I finished the biking portion in a little over 40 minutes. About 10 whole minutes better than my best time during training. Also keeping in line with my awesome category goal!!

 biking - Danskin  photo

At about mile 10 of biking I could see the runners. I was so ready to jump off my bike and join them! I was ready to run! No, seriously, I couldn't get my bike to transition area fast enough and throw on my visor, race number, and eat on a couple of sports beans. Now, trail running is different from running on the street in my neighborhood. I got to the mile 1 marker in about 8 minutes. I was happy. But I had to tell myself push on, faster, faster. Just because it appeared that I was going to meet my awesome goal category, didn't mean that I could just lolly gag. I started to push more. I came upon the last hill. It was a long hill. It was getting very hot. I was ready to be done. I could see the finish line and I was running towards it fast, but not as fast as I could've, apparently... one lady who had already finished was cheering me on and I responded with something like "woohoo, I'm almost done" and she looked at me and said something to the effect of, "that's not all you've got, you've got more in you, I can see it, go, go, GO". It was just the motivation I needed to sprint, I mean REALLY SPRINT!

I can smell victory! Almost there!

Nothing's sweeter than the finish line

 

 

I danced a little jig across the finish line! I DID IT! I crossed the finish line alive and well AND in the 1hour 30minute range in accordance with my awesome goal category . It felt GOOD! You know what the best part was? Being greeted by my amazing husband and beautiful daughter. They were my biggest fans, so proud of their wife and mother. It was a beautiful, wonderful feeling! I could've done it without them. Ladies, I got me a good one - Oscar watched Xia during my evening swims, put up with my training woes, encouraging when my self doubt got the best of me, helping me with my bike up and down from the bike rack twice weekly, and the big clincher - taking care of a tired, grumpy toddler morning of. He deserves some sort of medal, too!

 

Xia and I with the finish line behind us. 

I hope that one day in the future, we can make the Danskin her first triathlon 

and I'll complete it with her.

 

Posing with my medal post race. I DID IT!

 

Faith and I post race. She did amazing. She was my motivator and "trainer"! 

Thanks girl! 

My official time was 1:34:37. Here's my breakdown:

Swim (800m = .5 mile): 20:53

Bike (12 miles): 43:58

Run (3.1 miles): 25:40

I finished 10th in my age group (25-29) out of 90. Overall I finished 121 out of 1044 competitors.

	Distance Short Clock Time 01:34:37 Overall Place 123 / 1044 Division Place 10 / 90 Swim 00:20:53 Swimrank 364 Trans1 00:02:58 Bike 00:43:58 Bikerank 270 Mph 16.3 Trans2 00:01:06 Runrank 47 Run 00:25:40 Pace 00:08:16
	What an incredible experience. I am still on triathlon buzz! Next major event: San Antonio Rock N Roll MARATHON! YES, folks, I said marathon! I'm going to start training for it in July and will take one training day at a time. I hope to report back a positive experience in November!