# Lost my triathlon virginity today



## QED (Aug 11, 2011)

I did something I never thought I would do, especially at 48 years old, my first triathlon. It was just a sprint tri and I can't say that I will do another one, but I am really glad I did it. 

Why did I do it? A few years ago, my sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer four days before her son's wedding. A radical mastectomy, hysterectomy, and 2 rounds of chemo/radiation and she is still with us and cancer free. When she was diagnosed and going through her illness, I didn't know how to help. Her only request was for me to help by doing what I could to stop this dreadful disease. So I made a promise to her to use my health and strength to get out there and participate in as many events as possible that raise money for cancer research. I went through my own health battles so I haven't kept the promise as much as I would have liked although I have tried to donate monetarily. Lately I have been getting back into running and cycling and signing up for a sprint triathlon that supported cancer research just seemed like the way to jump start my participation again. 

How did it go? It went well. In the spirit of older brothers taunting their little sister, my brothers kept sending me articles about dreadful things happening on the swim portion like swimmers getting attacked by otter and beavers. I had built the swim up to be this mammoth event in my mind. Once I finished the swim and got out of my head, I was good. My bike time was great. 

The major place that I really screwed up was in the transition area. When I got back from the bike portion, someone had taken my spot on the rack (I had great rack position) and the whole rack was full of bikes with no open space left. Instead of taking someone else's space on a different rack, I wasted 10 minutes carefully moving other's bikes to make room for mine on the rack where it was supposed to be. I spent almost as much time on my transitions as I did on my swim or run. I will need to work on that if I ever do it again. 

I would encourage any woman to do this, even if you think you can't. It was very empowering.


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Congratulations!

Now sign up for an Iron Man.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Congrats on the triathlon as well as your sister's recovery.


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## jorgy (Oct 21, 2005)

Congrats! Sounds like you had fun (at least once the swim was over).


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

Congratulations! Wow doing that at 48 is wonderful!


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## mayrhys (Oct 24, 2012)

Awesome! good job!
I did my first one this august and was beat by lots of women your age (I'm 23...) I was truly impressed and inspired... I would like to be that badass when I am in my 40's!
The swim is truly intimidating. I decided to take my sweet time in the back and use it as my warm up. I still nearly freaked out, but i survived just fine. I think I want to try an Olympic length tri next, but i need to train in the pool. All I do is bike and run for now...


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## QED (Aug 11, 2011)

mayrhys said:


> All I do is bike and run for now...


I have the same problem. I love to bike and I used to be a distance runner so running is easy. Swimming, not so much. The irony is that I used to coach high school swimming. I think the karma of all those students who I ever tortured as a swim coach is coming back to get me


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## Kernyl (Dec 23, 2011)

Get in a pool with a Master's swim club/team. A good group of fun people and welcoming to all levels of swimmers. The next time out, you won't be so intimidated by the swim.


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