Well, it’s now almost two months after I completed the big event and can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve posted to the blog. It’s like the old saying goes, better late than never.
Let me start by explaining the images above, of the three I’m most proud of the two of my little guy Alexander. Before the start of the event he had been playing on the podium going up and down the stairs which was just next to the playground. Needless to say, that during the awards ceremony Alexander decided, to the delight of hundreds of athletes and the rest of the crowd, to climb back up on the podium. He was welcomed by thunderous applause and the race director proceeded to give him a medal. He clapped his hands and smiled at all the people laughing and cheering the unexpected disruption to the ceremony.
I’m going to have to dig deep to remember all of my post race thoughts that I’d like to share, here we go.
Here are the main goals that I had wanted to accomplish:
-Do at least 50% of the swim front crawl (as opposed to 100% breast stroke during my try-a-tri)
-Perhaps go from 4:00/100m in the water to closer to 3:00/100m
-Not have to walk during the run portion of the event.
-Get out of the bottom 20% overall (That would be a big jump up by the way).
Here is how I did, and I really couldn't believe it:
-More than 80% of the swim front crawl!
-Roughly 2:30/100m in the swim... That’s the crazy part, as a beginner swimmer I was shocked.
-I made it to the line before my MS spasticity in my legs really seized up so I didn’t have to walk during the run at all. It was slow compared to my regular running, but that is probably to be expected after swimming and biking.
-135/309 overall, safely in the top 50% overall.
I did put in a lot of work along the way and I was very proud that I had exceeded my expectations in every category.
I was very thankful that there were free massages at the finish, the therapist mentioned that she hadn’t worked on legs that were in such a state of spasm before. That massage really saved me for the drive home and for the subsequent couple of days.
Thanks for reading this post if you got this far. Many of you on twitter probably already heard most of the details that I had posted after the event, but I thought I should get back on the blog band wagon and share my joy over the culmination of quite a bit of hard work. I won’t update the last couple of months, but will save that for the next few posts.
Till next time...
Comments