My fascination with triathlons began when I was 16 on trip to Costa Rica. One of the things I remember most of the trip is watching my cousin Laura Mata compete in a full Iron Man triathlon. The whole competition intrigued me and since then I have had a desire to do one myself.
I know I can't do a full Iron Man triathlon like Laura, but my very good friend Jocelyn (who is also a triathlete) told me that I could compete in a smaller sized triathlon. On Saturday, June 12th our Stake sponsored a "Tin Man Triathlon". It consisted of a 150 meter swim, 3 mile run and 10 mile bike ride. David and I both signed up and began our training. On most days we would wake up at 5:30 am to hit the gym. Saturdays I would run to build endurance and as soon as it got warm enough we practiced swimming. The only thing I did not train for was the bike ride. My other friend Sharla let me borrow her really nice and costly bike. The afternoon before the race I took it for a test drive and it broke. Luckily it was a minor problem and easily fixable.
Race day came, David and I decided not to be nervous and just do our best and enjoy it. The first part of the competition was at North High School's swimming pool. That was a breeze, I love swimming and it was only 3 full laps. Unfortunately, when the running portion was about to start the rest of the event was suddenly cancelled because of a fatal accident at the pool. Everyones excitement turned to grief. A few days later I was reflecting upon the events of that day and thought even though I was not able to complete my race at least I have a photos that look like I did. Just kidding, the truth is that I realized the time we spent training was the best and most memorable part. I know I would have been able to finish it (if we did complete all three events). A year ago when I was 50 pounds heavier after giving birth I would have never believed that.
