ELATION!

That is the word that describes how I felt when I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon today. But I actually have stronger feelings than that because I cried the whole drive home when I thought about the fears that I knocked down today. I even thought if I feel like this now for a practice triathlon, how will I feel when I actually finish the full Ironman distance on 8/1/09?

Three weeks ago, when I did my first open water swim at Lake Del Valle which was followed the next day by a 30-mile rolling hill bike ride, I was at wits end. My head filled with doubt. I wanted to quit and not continue. But I'm a stubborn thing and I can't quit a goal that I've shared with way too many people. I couldn't face you all again if I had a lame excuse or any excuse if I gave up on my goal. What got me through the past three weeks were your sweet notes to me and donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As well, my outstanding IronTeam coaches and experienced teammates prepared me well physically and mentally for today's Louis Bonpua Triathlon.

This morning as I rounded the corner around Yerba Buena Island towards Treasure Island, I saw the great view being above the Bay Bridge followed by best view of San Francisco that I've ever seen in my lifetime living in the Bay Area. The weatherman was wrong about rain and cold through Sunday because the skies were blue, the winds were calm and the temp was a pleasant 48F. This calming weather and view had a positive psychological effect because I didn't feel nervous at all...until I started swimming.

At the swim start, Coach Nancy said she was going to swim along side with me the whole time because she knew about my open water swim trepidation. I didn't like the swim start with all the people around me swimming, kicking, splashing...and I felt panicked and began breathing rapid and shallow. Coach Nancy's calm voice said I was doing fine and reminded me to exhale under water. As I got to the first red buoy, I had to stop and grab onto the kayak to catch my breath and wit. The kayaker said to look at him and follow his breath, which helped slow my breathing. By then the swimmers were more spread out, I was ready to continue. I rounded the first sailboat and headed toward the next marker.

As I got to the next marker, I told Nancy I was done and wanted to swim to shore. Her calm voice asked, "Why? Are you cold? Are you tired? Is it mental?" or something to that effect. I thought, no, no, yes... okay, I'll do another lap. (We were to swim three laps...totaling 1.5km/.93 miles). The second lap I was beginning to feel more comfortable but would panic if I didn't see Nancy. "I'm here," she'd say. "Count your strokes to 20." That was a good distraction technique. I rounded the red buoy and forgot to site to where I was suppose to swim and was heading toward the Bay Bridge instead of the sail boat. "Not that way," I heard Nancy say.

The big sailboat had a little row boat attached to it. Painted on the sailboat was the name "Amy." Amy is the name of my best friend that I've known since the 6th grade. When I saw the name, I could hear Amy's voice in my head cheering me on. When I got towards the marker where I previously wanted to end it, I asked myself, am I tired? No. Only 1 more lap to go. I need to finish the third lap if I want to honestly say that I completed an Olympic Distance triathlon, otherwise I'd be cheating myself. So I headed out to the red buoy again. I heard Nancy say, "swim longer, deeper strokes...swim this one strong." That made me think about my body stroke and kick and I realized that I wasn't swimming in the best form. Previous two laps, I was more just trying to control breathing and brain. Rounding "Amy" my last time, I tried to swim strong to the shore. The water got really choppy and I didn't feel like I was moving forward and think that I was being pushed to my left. "Jennifer, you're almost done. Hear them cheering for you at the shore?" I hit the shore and gave Coach Nancy a big thank you hug. The swim took me 43 minutes.

My legs felt like rubber. My head was spinning. I was elated that I completed my longest distance open water swim without drowning. And I didn't get eaten by a shark (probably because I didn't pee in my wetsuit.) I had about a half-mile run back to where my bike was located. When my wetsuit was stripped off, I started shivering instantly until I changed into my cycle knickers.

For the bicycle portion, I had to ride six laps back and forth around the blocks of Treasure Island totaling 24.8 miles. Cycling west towards the Golden Gate Bridge, I faced a strong headwind. We had great volunteer support pointing us in the direction to turn and cheering. I don't know how long I took on the bike portion since I forgot to start my watch.

When I got back, I changed into my running shorts and shoes, used the port-o-pottie, and took a Gu before heading out to run the 6.2 miles. It was an out and back course that we had to run four laps. It usually takes me the first 30 minutes of a run to warm up my legs and feet and brain to the new abuse at hand. The run was on cement which is hard on my flat feet. I had bought new shoes this week and today was the first day I was actually breaking them in. Training Captain Brian ran with me the last 1.5 laps, which was nice because I tend to not give up as easily to walk when I have someone to keep pace with. I don't know exactly how long I took in my run since I forgot to turn off my watch, but I think that I took around an hour. I was happy that even though I came in second to last in my swim and one of the last bikes out, I was not the very last person to come in from the run. Brian said some encouraging words during our run that made me realize that I am making progress in becoming an Ironman and this is all really possible.