Have I lost my mind to consider a HIM? (Page 18)

Hi ladies!!!

I came upon your thread today and I have to say the amount of encouragement was AMAZING!!!!  I am just starting training to do my first tri and found your words very inspiring!  I'm not trying to lose weight BUT I really wanted you to know that if I was standing beside you on the starting line the LAST thing on my mind would be your weight...I would be thinking, ROCK ON!!  LET'S DO THIS!!!  We all have our issues and I am terrified to do my first HIM but I know as women if we all stick together and support one another along this journey we can ALL finish this with a ton of pride!  I think all of you are amazing and are very lucky to find "buddies" to do this with!  Have a blast at the HIM and I can't wait to come back and read your thread to see how everyone did!!!!
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!!!
Laurie 

Hooray!  We have new friends!  Welcome ladies.  I think you will like our little group.  As you probably read, these gals dragged me out of my OWS death spiral last week.  They are the BEST!

Here is my quick overview of our little group.  Ladies, let me know what you think of my assessments.   

Leah is the leader of the group.  She is tough, hard working, and actually does some strength training.  In my mind, she is the little one of the group.  (Lawyer)  CA70.3 on the books/IM possibilty

Ideal Muse/Debb - I consider her to be brave, goal oriented and conscientious. (sp?)  She is on a weight loss/IM mission!  (Artist)   Deciding on summer HIM with IMWI scheduled for Sept

Losta/Lisa - She is our gadget girl.  If there is anything you want ot know about bikes, watches or trainers, she is your gal.  She loves a challenge too!  (occupation?  I'm guessing something business or technical related.)  OLY scheduled/Timberman HIM late summer

Kiri - She is a swimmer/biker with weightloss on the mind.  She is taking her training very seriously ready to head into next season strong.  (Artist)  Deciding on race schedule for summer.  HIM is coming!

Joblin/Stef - She is the interesting jet setter who goes from exotic location to excotic location.  She is toying with a IM but hasn't committed.  Probably on holiday now.  (pilot or flight attendant? not sure)  Still deciding on races.

Me - AZSunshine/Kate - Hmmm. . . Lots of drama lately . . . Suck at swimming . . . loves red wine . . .  (non practicing attorney)  CA70.3 scheduled, probably another HIM during summer, might consider full IM if training goes well

I am anxious to respond to everyone's photos and posts but I got home from work at 10:30 pm tonight.  I'll catch up more soon.  No work out today b/c of work function.  Had to skip my swim lesson.  UGH!  Heading to the tri store tomorrow to tri on wetsuits. 

Kate's Splash N Dash Race Report

I started the day feeling much more confident.  Last night's practice swim in the new wet suit felt good.  I have a full sleeve "19" wetsuit.  I think it gave me a little confidence boost.  It also helped that it was a 750m swim v. the 1000m swim I was expecting.  I had a very busy work day so I didn't have time to obsess about the race.  At 4:00 I packed up and went down to the race.  

It was a cold day for Arizona.  Maybe 65 or 67?  Usually when it hits 70 degrees here we all have our sweaters on.  So this type of weather was not idea.  I couldn't imagine what the water tempature was going to be. 

My Bro-in-law got to the race before me.  He was only 1 of about 30 people!  We were still a little early so maybe others would be coming.  The race organizers talked about how the weather might be keeping people away today.  By the time we were to start the race, we had 52 people participating.  Unheard of where we live, but I dug it!  It turns out that it was a no chip race this time.  They were going by our bib numbers.  This should be interesting!

I looked at the water and got a huge pit in my tummy.  The buoys were so far apart!!  How could that be 750m?  It looks like WAY more than that.  It was again a triangle format.  I can't believe how far they are!  I had to stop looking b/c I could feel my heart rate going up. 

As we started to get our wetsuits on an older lady befriended us.  She was CHATTY!  Turns out she has done ironman races and does about 15 marathons a year.  She talked about how she was the last on across the finish line in IMAZ.  She didn't care one bit!  It was all about the finish for her.  I was so impressed with her attitude.  It turns out she is a slow swimmer too who is doing the same race I am doing on Sunday.  I think her chatting helped me get through my prerace jitters.  She didn't stop!  It was cute though.  I think she was happy to be with some folks. 

Soon it was race time and we were to get into the water.  It was cold!!  I recognized some faces from last week and made some small talk with some folks while we were getting used to the water.  A few of us self described slow people talked about where to go and when to start.  So far so good.  No panic yet. 

The next thing I knew the horn blew.  Deep breath . . . Here I go.  For a brief moment I flet a little uneasy.  Not getting into the flow but that soon passed.  I tried to get a little chant going in my head.  "1, 2, 3 . . . Breathe!  1, 2, 3 . . . Breathe!"  I decided I would try to sight about every 10 strokes.  I realized that I wasn't freaking out!  I am doing this!  I take my first sight and put my head right back in the water and didn't skip a beat.  Hey, I just passed a guy!   "1,2,3 . . breathe!"  The next thing I know I am at the first buoy!  How did that happen?  I am doing this!!  As I am going I see some folks floating on their backs.  I haven't had to flip over yet.  Hooray!  As I am swimming I realize the longer I keep stroking the faster I will get done.   

As i reach the final stretch I got pretty emotional again.  This week I'm emotional for a different reason.  I totally concurred my fear!  I didn't give up and worked to get over my issue.  Pretty cool.  As I started to walk up the boat dock and man was right behind me.  He asked the race official "Are we the last ones out?"  AND the race dude said "NO!"   I can't believe it!

I quickly went to the transition and got my shoes on.  The the running begin!  I was about a mile into the run when I saw my bro-in-law coming the opposite way (We had to do two loops)  He said "YOU DID IT!"  It must have been obvious b/c he was still on his first lap.  

I was on cloud nine.  I knew I was still back of the pack but I was SO OK with that!  When I finished Peter told me that I was only a couple of minutes behind him!!  He thinks I really cut a ton of time of my swim! 

Here are the results.  

Today:               750m swim and a 4k in 43:46
Last week:        500m swim and a 4k in 45:52 

I was trying to calculate the numbers.  I don't know how this time can be possible though.  It is pretty darn good if you consider the time includes the swim, transition of getting my wetsuit off, AND a 2.5 mile run!  What ever.  I'm not going to over think it.  I'll take it. 

I drove home with a new attitude.  I can do this!  This is a whole new ball game now!  I can do this!  Now that I know I can do the swim, I can start thinking about how to become faster and stronger v. thinking about surviving the swim.  Thank you all for your support and tips.  I think I used a little bit from everyone to do this!

Now I'm really looking forward to my race on Sunday.  (1/2 mile swim/ 17 mile bike/ 3.1 mile run)  I'll be racing in the Athena division and I will be ok no matter where i finish.  (at least for this race . . . )

Thanks again ladies!