Giving it a tri

I saw on Facebook that a couple of girlfriends are doing a local sprint-distance triathlon.  I pondered doing it myself for about 24 hours before mentioning it to my friends and Bryan.  No one seemed to think I was crazy, so I'm going for it!

Facts that could support a theory of insanity...

We have no jobs, so we we don't have gym or public pool memberships.
This also means no personal trainer or swim coach.
I weigh almost as much today as I did when I gave birth to each of my children. 
I haven't been on a bike since before I got pregnant with Zach in 2002.
I own a mountain bike, not a race bike.
I haven't owned a pair of swim goggles since I was on the swim team in 1985.
I haven't swam a single lap in our neighborhood pool since Luke was born in 2006.
Our neighborhood pool is 50 feet long.  My sprint tri swim is 500 meters - that's 1,640 feet.
That's 33 dizzying laps in our little pool.
Did I mention that I am afraid of what lurks beneath the lake's surface?

But I can run, and this is a beginner's sprint-distance race and I know some really fun women who are doing it.  It is such an exciting challenge!

A 3.5 mile run is no problem these days....but I can't wait to see how easy it is for me after a 500 meter swim and 10 miles on the bike!

I dusted my bike off two days ago and Bryan refilled the near-empty tires.  I rode for 5.5 miles with no trouble at all.  My rear was a little sore from balancing on the tiny seat, but otherwise I felt nothing.  Will give the full 10 miles a shot early tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I began swimming.  This will be my biggest hurdle, as I simply cannot breathe while swimming freestyle for any distance.  I swam a little more than 500 meters today, but much of it was the breast stroke and I had a lot of starts and stops.  I've got to figure out how to train for the swim by myself - maybe I should put Coach Bryan on this.  Right now I'm relying on sheer practice, repetition, reading and youtube videos.

I'm so excited.  The training journey is a blast.  The race itself will be the culmination (end...proof) of all the hard work, so I plan to enjoy every minute of the training.

I can't wait to work up the endurace to take my swim out into the open water!  But, I wonder...  Where can I get a protective bubble to keep the fish and snakes at bay, and not have to walk on the lake floor?  Getting into that lake for my first training swim will be an enormous accomplishment in and of itself.

I'm tri-ing!  Race day:  Sept. 10.