May!!!!!

Most of May was just about recovering from California but I had a big event - my very first sprint triathlon.  I actually already posted about it in one of my fitness blogs but I want to relive it.  :D

The kids love to use my camera and thanks to the digital age of photography I don't mind!  It's very interesting to see the world from their point of view.  This is apparently how Asher sees me and Jon.  It's pretty accurate, actually.

Kate is one funny kid.  Sometimes she just pops out with the funniest words or outfits.  She decided to become a modern cowgirl before bed on this occasion.  

In May I did my first-ever sprint triathlon called The Woman of Steel.  It was awesome.  AWESOME.  I'm so excited to do it again.  You should do it too.  If you're a woman.  My awesome sister-in-law's sister Sarah did it with me.  She is like Superwoman.

Most people training for a triathlon (or a distance variation within it) find swimming to be the most challenging bit and to be honest, when I started swimming it WAS difficult for me.  But spending twice a week to build my strength, to improve form and breathing, and to gradually get a little faster made the swim fairly comfortable for me.  I am by no means the fastest but I really felt good about the swim.  
My biggest issue with the swim is that people say they are faster than they really are, mostly so they wouldn't have to stand in the freezing cold for an hour.  I can't blame them for that, I guess.  We line up according to approximate swim time so I ended up trying to swim around people the whole time, especially as some people were just walking in the pool.  Next time I think I'll line up a little earlier than my time...

It's a weird part to love, but I love the transitions.  I love little tricks to make them faster.  I did pretty well except that I took my bike out of the wrong gate and lost about two minutes.  But I learned not to do that again.  :D

 I felt good about the run.  I actually did it way faster than I thought I would.  I just kept thinking that I didn't want to have any regrets about not pushing it harder. 

 All in all I was so happy with my whole experience and was so very glad I did it.  I felt like I achieved something I had wanted to do for a long time.  I am excited to do it next year.