Win 4 KC August 1st

So the Triathlon has come and gone. Yesterday morning my sister and I arrived at Smithville Lake at about 545 am. It was rainy, cool, and pitch black, but all was a GO! We got out, headed to the skin marking station, picked up my timing chip, and took all my stuff in to the transition area. There was a lot of waiting around, but I was glad we got there so early. About the time of this picture there were a TON of people arriving and even though it was very organized, it seemed like chaos and it would have been very overwhelming to arrive then. By ab out 615 it was done raining. Brooks brought both of the kids and my sister was in town for the race. My mom also came with Charlie. I was surprised at how well I was able to see them at each transition. I expected them to just be out there in the crowd somewhere. G was soooo tired.
Here we are getting ready for the swim (the first part). They lined us all up according to number and we started every 3 seconds. There were 700 people signed up for the race- about 650 showed up.
Talking to G and Daddy in the crowd.

Swimming out there somewhere!!
"Where's Mama," daddy??
You can see me running out of the lake up the hill in this picture. I don't know how they could find me!
Headed out to bike.
And back in 36 minutes later!
Out for the run making faces at Mira. Feeling pretty good at this point but knowing there were 3 miles ahead of me...
Coming in for the finish. I was able to run the entire time! At the end I started sprinting to keep my time under 30 minutes for the run portion. I seriously felt like I was about to die at this point.
Wow.
All done.
This race was an amazing accomplishment for me. I have never done ANY sort of competitive or otherwise race of any sort. I feel really good about my ability to do it. I was 38/88 in my age group. My goal was to be in the top 1/2 so I definitely made it. 216 th over all. The only area I didn't meet my goal in was the swim portion. I under estimated my swim time and they start you according to it, so I was around people who were slower than me and didn't really have a solid stroke. It was pretty tough and I struggled a bit.

Final times:
Swim- 11:48 (goal was 10 mins)
Bike- 36:45 (goal was 45 mins)
Run- 29:32 (goal was 30 mins)

I am definitely pumped up and excited for what's next. My sister, mom, and I are doing a 5 K in September in NC. I would like to see if I am able to improve my times! In October I will be doing a 10 K race just to see if I can go farther. I want to be able to do this race next year, but we'll have to see what the year brings! Thanks, everyone, for your support!