I Tri

Okay, I have been reading, and I do have some books to talk about, Slaughterhouse 5 and Flowers for Algernon, but there are other things I would rather talk about. Such as the triathlon I did today. I would like to think of myself as an endurance athlete, having run for almost five years at this point I am currently on a college cross-country and track team. But in my spare time I like to tri. I'm not really that good, but it it something I really enjoy and lets me unwind from the rigors of normal life and athletics. It was sprint triathlon, with a half-mile swim, 18 mile bike, and a 5k run. The word sprint is an accurate depiction of the action up in the front of the pack. I lost the leaders in the swim, but I feel that I passed more people on the bike than passed me, and no one passed me on the run while I gained 7 or 8 spots. Ultimately I placed 16th overall, the youngest by ten years in that range. I also won my age group. So I guess I can feel good about that. My total time was 1:33:52, but I don't know my individual splits yet. But, more importantly, I learned something today. I learned that I love nothing more than putting my body through the crucible of racing as hard as I can. I can honestly say that I gave close to if not 100% in this race. Coming out of the swim I could not feel my shoulders from swimming harder than I ever had before, during the bike portion I was attacking the uphills so hard that I was sobbing on the downhill portions, and during the run I was just holding on for dear life, pushing to the last. And I loved every gloriously painful moment of it.