Galena Triathlon: The Run

Well kids, here is the last installment. When I was running my bike into T2, barb ended up sharing with me some information about the run. She said that she spoke with a guy who already finished and that the run starts with a huge hill which they call "Heartbreak Hill" and that you should walk up it. Once I got my stuff together and made it to the hill this is what I found.

I was not pleased. It doesn't look that bad in the pictures, but it definitely wasn't any fun. Once I got to the bottom of this beast, I just thought to myself "Hell No". This thing went straight up. But I bit my lip and went on my way. The arrow in the second photo on the hill is pointing to me.

Well i started to run up the hill when I thought to myself, "this is so stupid", so I decided to walk. When I made it to the top of the hill my legs felt like weights. It took about the first full mile to transition back into my running legs. The first and second mile were spent doing a run/walk. But once I made it half way, I just kicked it into gear. I have no idea where I got the energy from, but i was not going to second guess it. Things went pretty well. I kept thinking to myself, soon this will all be over, soon I could get a beer, and I still can't believe i am doing this.

Since the run was a out and back, I had to deal with the hill again. But this time, I got to go down it which was pretty fun. Since there was really no one around me, I was able to fly down the hill into the finishers shoot. I was pretty pumped, and surprised that I didn't trip and fall and tumble down that hill. Once I crossed the finish line, I let out a big sigh of relief. And all I could think of was, that was awesome, which one am I going to do next. After the event, I finally met up with barb where we just hung out at recreation park and enjoyed the rest of our day. I was pretty pleased that I had no aches or pains after the tri. I felt amazing. Well at least until the sunburn set in!

Well Kids, I actually did it. I am now a triathlete and pretty psyched about it. Here is a breakdown of what I did:

The swim: 21:43

16.8 Bike: 1:30:11

4.3 Run: 49:12 with a 11:27 pace

Overall: 2:48:40

I think this isn't so bad for a first timer!

I just want to thank everyone for there support throughout this adventure. I also want to thank my lovely and supportive wife for cheering and pushing me through this. I wouldn't have done it without you. I love you! I am so excited for you to complete yours in July.

One thing I plan on doing before my next tri is to take some swim lessons. I definitely plan on doing another one. And my next goal that I have my eyes set on is to complete a half and a full Ironman before I am 31!