My Triathlon!

RUn Forest... RUN! That's funny that the guy in front of me was totally looking at the camera! That's me in the all black behind him.  It was FREEEEEZING that morning.  I had a jacket on and never took it off! 
The biking part.  That hill you see in the distance... killar!!! Seriously, I'm getting nauseated looking at it  (It probably wasn't that bad, but after already running and biking 8 miles, it was bad).  

My sister,  Heather, and her kids came! My mom was holding Gracie and she came too! 
Jenny was there too with her kids cheering me on when I was almost done the running section, she was there yelling for me! AWESOMEness!  
This was afterwards when I was all wet after the swimming part and very cold..... yeah, I wonder why I'm SO sick today.  My girls were there to support me and give me loves! 
             Yikes! That's kind of a scary picture.  It's funny it looks like we posed under that sign, but I just noticed it above my head.  It's written on the high school at Mountain View.  Funny!





On a side note- sorry about the terrible quality pictures! Our camera is finally dying :-(  Does anyone have any good recommendations for a new camera? I know nothing about cameras! 

      As I am writing this as I am sniffling and have my huge wad of tissues because I am sick as a dog!! We have had this terrible, terrible virus attack our family and hasn't left yet.  It's been around for 2 1/2 weeks and I have finally got it.  The morning of my triathlon I woke up with a stuffy nose and a headache and of course doing a triathlon under those conditions wasn't helpful, so my body is hating me now.  I have a wonderful sister, Jenny, who offered to take Jade so I could get some good rest! Love my sisters!! Thanks!

    Okay, so another one down!! YEA! I did it! It felt soooo great! There is just something so satisfying when you've worked your TUSHY off training and finally accomplished your goal! It made all those times worth it when I had to drag myself out the door to the gym when I was exhausted and would have rather just read a book or watched T.V. but I knew I paid 40.00 for this stinkin thing and I didn't want to die during the race.  My sisters and my Mom came out to support me and of course my wonderful hubby who stood by me and motivated me all the way! He was staggered throughout the race at points that were going to be the hardest and when I would need extra motivation! It worked! :-)  

    You know what the best part about it is? It's doing something all together with people you don't know, people you never will see again, but you cheer each other on and you feel connected to them in a weird way because you know each person has a personal reason for finishing the race! You lift each other up, you root for each other, you cheer one another on! That is something we need MORE of in this world! Motivating and building people, instead of always being competitive and tearing each other down.  When I hit a hard point on the bike, I was super tired, and this old man rode up beside me and said, "hey, how are you doing?"  I looked over and said, "I'm hanging in there."  Then he sped off.  Later in the race, I was biking up this Ginormous hill and he was beside me again.  I leaned over and said, "hey, how are you doing?"  He smiled and said, "oh, hanging in there." I said, "you can do it, keep going."  Then I rode past him.  It was so neat to be able to share warm fuzzies with strangers and know you are helping them to accomplish their goals and to inspire them to keep going! Okay, sorry, enough of the sappy stuff!!

        Okay just kidding, one more sappy thing... You know what else?? Our bodies are amazingly strong!!! Seriously, they are stronger than we give them credit for! Some of you reading this, are thinking, wow, I could never do that.  You're WRONG! You can TOTALLY DO it! There was a point on the bike when I wanted to cry when I looked up and saw this HUGE hill I had to climb at the end of a 10 mile stretch and my legs were already burning... but I kept telling myself, Emily, YOU CAN DO IT... go girl! My body pushed through it! I NEVER would have thought I could do that without getting off and walking my bike up.  But I did.  We have great strength and power hidden inside us sometimes that we don't even know is there! :-) Do i sound like a motivational speaker? Sorry, I just had all these great moments and thoughts that I wanted to share! So I can't wait to do it again.  Eventually someday I want to train and do an olympic distance triathlon.  Not for a while, but someday.  So, go out and do something you always wanted to do!! IT feels GREAT!! My sisters are all gonna do one with me next time... huh girls? It will be fun and they will ROCK IT!!!