Conquering Fear

Well, maybe I haven't conquered fear, but I have pushed it back a great deal. I actually swam my first triathlon at Glorietta Bay, off Coronado Island. Not a long race, but a 1/2 mile swim in open water. For those of you who have know my history of non-swimming, this was a personal accomplishment. I had been swimming in the pool at my gym since January. Struggling every week, but going to the pool 2 - 3 times. Making slow progress every week. I was not nervous the night before the race and was not nervous at the start of the race. I had been able to swim a mile in the pool in about 35 minutes so I knew I could do the distance, it was the open water part, swimming straight without lane lines and being able to swim a course marked only by orange buoys that was a challenge. I had a slight panic attack before the first buoy at 200 yards. I felt I was swimming in a zig-zag pattern and swimming too fast. Just then, a swimmer swam right over top of me. I was actually going straight and she was lost. She pushed me under the water with no warning. I had to stop and decide if I wanted to go on. Quitting thoughts did flicker in my head. But I didn't. I decided that I'd slow down, take longer strokes and ease up on my breathing.

I finished the swim and was in the transition area in about 21 minutes (in the back in this picture). Not fast, but not bad and my goal of finishing while not having to be rescued was accomplished. I was definitely at the back of the pack.

I then had a 12 mile bike ride on a flat road. No problem. I got passed a few times but passed them back so that was about even.

I had a 3 mile run that I finished in about 25 minutes so that was a pace I could live with and I had "speed" left at the end.
1 hour and 31 minutes after I started, I had finished my first triathlon.

Fear just moved back 1/2 mile.

I was tired but thrilled. It was the club race for the Triathlon Club of San Diego. They have it once a month. My next race is a shorter race, the Encinitas Super-Sprint on May 18th.

So proving that men can make anything a contest, I was waiting to meet a friend from Biola for coffee. We noticed a kite up in the tree and thought, "How hard can it be to just toss these traffic cones into the tree and get a free kite?" 45 minutes later we had 5 cones stuck in the tree and still no kite. We eventually got our cones down and I added the stupid picture of me (in the blue shirt) on one of my tosses (I did get the last two cones out though). If you click on the picture, you can also see a guy climbing out to try and get the kite while we throw cones at it! I thought that was the end of it. No kite, but a valient effort. Nope, that was not the end, Jonathan came back several hours later with a ladder, had his wife stabilize it, climbed up the tree and got the kite. Kind of like David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks - Stupid Tri Tricks.