The good news: I am officially a triathlete!

The bad news: I am not a very good one...

Yesterday morning I took the plunge (literally) and swam 1/2 mile, biked 12, and ran 3. Today I still can't use my legs. 

The swim started off with more panic than I was expecting (and I was expecting a lot). I need to work on keeping my anxieties down when my attempts to breathe result in a mouthful of lake water (on the upside, if I don't die from the icky lake water my immune system will be gangbusters!). The end effect was that my swim got off to a slow start and I never quite got it back where it should be for more than a few minutes. 

By the end I was just glad to get out of the water.

As I transitioned to the bike I realized that I had forgotten to take my gu before the swim! First race anxieties got the better of me. MLEIV said I looked "horrible" coming out of the water. I was still wound up and anxious from the swim, hadn't had my energy shot, and was only getting started.

The T1 went slowly as I stumbled to figure out what I need to take off/put on. Finally I got out of there (sucked on some gu) and was off to ride. 

The bike ride was my strongest event. Normally 12 miles takes me close to 50 min (I train where there are lots of hills). This course took me just over 40 and I passed almost as many people as passed me.

Off the bike I was feeling better. Got my running shoes on, more gu, then headed out the wrong way for the run portion. A nice guy stopped me and set me straight...

The run went as expected: about 35 of the most painful minutes of my life. 

I'll post official results when they are up, but my watch said it was about 1 hour 50 minutes, which isn't terrible and is a great baseline for the Kirkland one in September!

Between now and then I need to get better at not breathing and run run run.

In the end, I'm hooked: it was a blast. My only wish is that I could have done better, but that's what next year is for!