My First Tri and the Baked Potato!!

I'd love to start my story with, "The day dawned crisp and clear..." but alas, when I got up at 4 am, it was pouring rain. Now I was nervous and already feeling miserable. But by the time I drove the one hour out to the state park (Burnet Tri-Hard Challenge in Burnet, TX 09-21-03), most of the rain had cleared. It stayed gray and cloudy though, and who could complain about the cool weather this time of year in Texas? It was great for riding. My relay team, "Beginner's Luck" were in full force trying to find our way around and figure out what we were supposed to do. All of the volunteers and race officials were wonderful. Everyone was so friendly and encouraging. I had expected to be really intimidated, but we were feeling pretty comfortable by the time everything got started. It was an open road race, so by the time I came straggling in (there were still 2 or 3 riders behind me), we had our very own police escort back into the state park entrance! Guess they didn't want to chance us getting flattened by a farm tractor rolling down the road faster than us! When I hit the last three miles, I actually started crying. I couldn't believe I had actually done this thing. And then when I rounded the last curve, and my family was jumping up and down and waving, it was just the best feeling! I handed off to our runner and she took off. Distances were 800mSwim-18mile bike-5k run. We finished in 2:30:31.3 right at our goal time, and I performed a personal best on the 18 mile bike at 1:34:28.8, still pretty slow. We were the last female relay team, but hey! we beat the men's relay team made up of 70 yrs old and over!! The hills were killer. Who writes the race descriptions anyway? The brochure said there were some slightly, rolling hills. Excuse me, but they more closely resembled those of my favorite steel rollercoaster at Six Flags, called the Titan! Point is, I made it--my thighs are a little sore today--but I feel great and am so excited. I can't wait to keep training and do more and more. I want to try one on my own, gotta sign up for swimming lessons. Somehow I don't think the ability to float for 3 or more hours at a time will necessarily do it for me! And by the way, that was the best darn baked potato I've ever eaten!!