I TRI-ed

Me before the race all nervous and what not (once again sorry about it being sideways and all, I wish I had a computer elf)

 

I always watch those "I shouldn't be alive" shows where some miracle feat of strength occurs and someone gets crushed by a car/rock/large inanimate object and somehow a bystander is able to save them by lifting like thirty bajillion tons of weight all because of straight up gangster adrenaline. I never understood that. Honestly though, it just doesn't make sense, how can a little bit of adrenaline completely change someones strength like that. As far as I was concerned it was all fake, fake I tell you.

Let's back up just a second here. Before the triathalon I was nervous. Like can't stop fiddling with my hands and moving my feet, nervous. The kind of nervousness that causes terrible jokes to come flying out of my mouth at rapid rates, because lets face it, laughing about something terrifying is way more socially acceptable than bawling over something terrifying. So I joke. I went through all the jokes I had prepared, even though they were terrible. And then after that my nerves just turned into adrenaline, but not the super strength kind, the really crazy feeling, pit in the stomach kind. 

And then I stepped in the water. And it was cold, but not so cold that I couldn't smile for a picture and give a cheesy thumbs up.

And then the race started and I dove into that lake o' death. And my lungs felt like they were collapsing in my chest, like when you're sobbing really really hard and you just can't catch any air and it hurts to try and inhale (simile, are you with me?). Yeah, it felt like that. Times all the ice cubes and exploding lungs in the world. When that wave of shock waved over me, I COMPLETELY LOST IT.  Lost it to the point of, flailing my arms while simultaneously swallowing the entire lake. I kept trying to see in the murky water, trying to breath while my chest felt like a 600 lb man named Sven was jumping on it (simile, again, I know genius right). I kept thinking, "What have I done? I CAN'T DO THIS! I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust! Who does this crap for fun??"

And then I got SUPER STRENGTH! The adrenaline pulsed through my body in an instant and I became completely numb and my body took over and told my head to shut the freak up (I was still praying just about every instant of the swim still, but my body went on auto pilot while my crazy mind checked out, I kid you not) And before I knew it I was 1/4 of the way through, 1/2 way through, 3/4 through, ALL DONE. And I was up and running to the bike area.

As Erin later put it so eloquently, " That was the closest to death I've ever been." And she was SOOOO right. I mean I would have added a holy crap and a friggin' in that sentence, but still she was right on.

 

 So after I realized I was alive and that my limbs were oh so completely numb. I rode the heck out of my legs (them things are made for biking I tell you) and then ran the heck out of 'em. And then the race was over. 

And then ten minutes later I got feeling back in my frozen feet (dear feet I love you, please never leave me again).

And then me and Erin smiled for the camera like we had just had fun....even though the swim was the most tortured I've ever felt in my life.

And now I want to do it again. I KNOW, I know??? I'm crazy right? Yeah loco. But training hard and kicking my butt and working toward a goal and then accomplishing it was so fun. So call me crazy but yeah....I'd torture myself all over again.

And to answer yesterdays little question. I managed to be the coldest I've ever been, get my but kicked by an old lady, get second place (complete with cheesy plaque)  and  escape death all in one race. I'd say I got my money's worth right??