Woke up at 5:00 AM. Had all my stuff downstairs so that I could get ready (hubby had to get some stuff done at home, so he didn't go with). Got dressed, loaded everything up and headed out. Got to Lake Lanier about 6:15 AM, which I thought would leave me plenty of time. Ha. Ended up having to park at a far away lot and walk all the way past the swim start to the transition area. Got body marked and then headed over to my bike. Felt really rushed when I got to transition. I had lost a valve cap on my front tire, and since I don't know much about bikes, was worried. Race volunteer told me she didn't think it would be a problem (and it wasn't, hurray!). Tried to set everything up quickly and then headed back down to the swim. It's probably better that I didn't have time to sit around feeling nervous.

We stood around and they gave some reminders about the course and then the first wave headed out. It was an in-water start. Different than the race I did last month. There were 5 groups, I was in the last. Since we had to stay inside the buoys, there was lots of walking. Announcer told us that we'd be penalized for walking, which I figured. People were standing up and walking the entire way. Crazy. Anywho, finally got in the water and we were off. There's not much to say other than, I didn't walk. I somehow made it to the finish and when I stood up and got to the shore, I was weaving all over the place. Crossed the mats for the swim portion and headed to transition.

There was a massively steep hill that we had to hoof it up to get to transition. No one could run it. And we were barefoot, so that was fun. Made it into transition, and it was easy to find my bike. Ha. There definitely were people behind me from the swim though, so I wasn't dead last.

Got to my bike and grabbed everything as quickly as I could and headed out. I knew that I was up against the cutoff, so I tried to push it from the start. Talk about hills. Whew. Thank god for the downhills, because the uphills were a bitch. Lots of people walking their bikes, but I managed to stay on mine for all but one hill towards the end. I just ran out of gas on that one. Managed to get a few swigs of Powerade on the bike course this time. Last time I was too nervous and completely forgot. 18 miles started to feel like forever. But we finally returned to the park. According to rumor, the bike course was 19 miles. At that point it all felt the same. Long. Powered up a short, steep hill to the finish and was really wobbly for the dismount. Took my sweet time in T2, my legs felt like sludge when I headed out on the run.

At this point, I had no goals. I wasn't worried about the cutoff and I knew I'd finish. The run had a few hills, but nothing I haven't encountered in my weekly runs. I ran when I could, and walked when I needed a break. The turnaround couldn't have come fast enough. There was some great support on the course and as I headed to the finish I had to keep from making the ugly cry face. I was really happy to be done, and proud of myself for pushing through the bike.

We got our results right away from a printout, which was really cool! I didn't stick around because I wanted to get home, so I grabbed my stuff and trudged through the long walk back to the car. Loaded my bike and headed home.

I was being really hard on myself during the car ride home. And then I had to stop and shake my head. Hello - you just finished a triathlon! Enjoy it for a little while before you start analyzing how crappy it was and how much you need to train for the next one. Why am I so hard on myself? It really was an amazing experience. 458 women, all shapes and sizes. Talk about girl power. These women were so awesome. The whole experience just made me want to be a better athlete. To do right by myself and be prepared. Because there are days when I feel like an athlete, and days when I just don't feel capable.

1/3 Mile Swim - 16:43
T1 - 4:10
18 Mile Bike - 1:41:38
T2 - 2:47
5K Run - 38:13
Total - 2:43:32