Triathlon success!

I ran in a triathlon last weekend and I've been dying to blog about it. I was waiting for them to post the professional photos, but they're still not out, so I'm going to post about it anyway.

Notice I said I "ran in" a triathlon, not that I did one all by myself. This was the Sharjah University City super-sprint triathlon, and you can do it by yourself or in a team of three - one person each for the swim (400m), bike (10k), and run (2.5k). I originally wanted to do it all by myself, but the truth is that I can hardly swim.

So I scrounged up a team of two of my neighbors to do the swimming and biking. We were kind of the AUS B-team, since there is a regular AUS women's team that has done the triathlon each year - they actually hold the course record for this event. Since the A-team is a group of awesome people, we all had a good time being faux-but-a-little-bit-genuinely competitive. The runner for the other team works in my same department, and ever since we found out the other was signed up, it was like we couldn't look each other in the eye - we were both just scoping out the other for signs of weakness. "Is she limping? She looks tired. I wonder if the heavy teaching load is keeping her from training." Etc. It was all in good fun.

The morning of the event came. When you are running a triathlon when you still have a nursing baby, sometimes you nurse that baby during the pre-race briefing. Also, when you are running a triathlon but your husband is, too, sometimes your daughters babysit your son in the stroller while you do your best to warm up and keep a clear eye for your cycling teammate to come in to the transition zone. In the end, she showed up much sooner than I expected, so I had to throw a juicebox and snack into Magdalena's hands for Sterling and then take off running to the sounds of Sterling being upset at my leaving.

All our friendly rivalry with the other team came down to this 2.5k-long moment. I was so, so lucky to be put in prime position by my cycling teammate. I was probably 200m back from the other AUS runner when I started, and we were the leaders. All I had to do was roll her in and the race would be mine (and my team's). And even though I was so nervous I felt like I was going to puke right there while running...I did! I passed her and held her off at the finish. Our final times were only 17 seconds apart. As I came across the finish line, I could hear applause and cheering from the spectators...followed by squawks of annoyance from Sterling once he noticed that I was there but not taking care of him at that exact moment. (The NERVE of me, honestly.)

However, we didn't get the record (and neither, obviously, did they, even though they're the ones who hold it). So there's still something to shoot for next year.

I remember a year ago when Jeremy did this same triathlon. I had barely started working out again after having Sterling, so

I was bigger than my normal size

and exhausted from sleep deprivation and still adjusting to being a mom of three. I was there watching all these fit people and feeling sad that I wasn't participating. So I made a goal to do the triathlon this year. And now I did! It's just icing on the cake that my team won. I am super happy of myself.

In lieu of fancy official photos - which I reserve the right to humble-post when they come in - here are some photos from Jeremy's phone.

Sterling is still wondering why Mama just ran away from him and then showed up again a while later.

(There are only two of us on the podium because our swimming teammate couldn't stay for the awards ceremony.)