ouch!

yeah, that hurts.

That being defined as my entire body.
I finished my first triathlon yesterday. Its a good thing that I wasnt planning on winning anything cause I wasnt even close. I finished in 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 55 seconds. That was good enough for 141st place...out of 238. I was 15th in the Clydesdale division.

But I finished...
That in itself is a victory. I also learned a great deal about racing triathalons, especially the open water swim, and the cumulative effect of doing all three disciplines. I also had a decision to make when I finished: Is this something that I want to continue to do? do I put energy into this? The answer is yes. So now I have a list of things that I can and will improve and things that I've learned, and I look forward to improving.

Speaking of things that I learned: the night before a triathlon, stay at a hotel, or if you are going to camp, get some serious bug spray. I dont know whats flying around Cape May County, but they're tiny, theres a lot of them, and they bite really hard. Yeah, well rested I was not.

The Bush adminstration isnt the only one with mission creep

I have three days until I participate in my first triathlon. I'm about as ready as I'm going to be for this race, no thanks to some recent drama with vehicles. All I have to do now is not work out and manage my expecations. Its not as easy as it sounds. I had a pretty consistant training schedule down and I knew when to push and when not to, but this past week I've been tapering so that Im rested and repaired, and its killing me. Last night on the bike I had to actively keep myself from pushing hard because I knew that I was going to do a shorter ride than normal. hopefully that means I'm ready for the race. Even harder than keeping the workout drive in check is managing my expectations for the race. It is the first time that I have done a triathlon, the first time that I have swum more than a few yards in open water, ...and on. I'm competeing as a Clydesdale (male over 200lbs) which means that, while I'm not competing against the skinny guys I will be in the same bracket as people that are carrying 40lbs less than me. All of that said, I still catch my self thinking about what it will be like to win the category...-What?! my goal is not to drown in the swim! I just want to finish the race and leave competing to win categories to another year, maybe 2010. Maybe I'm watching the olympics too much.

Speaking of, since when is it a failure if you dont win gold in the Olympics? Set aside the fact the Michael Phelps is a superfreak (I mean that in a good way). Last time I checked, just making it to the Olympics is pretty prestigious. Thats why I can't stand articles like this one on Katie Hoff. She won medals, she finished fourth twice during world record setting races, but its a "disappointing" Olympics because she didnt win gold. Shes 19!!!!!! I considered it a victory that I vacumned the floor at 19. Hoff and a team mate failed to qualify for the 800 free last night. Just like in track, the 800 is the hardest event in the pool, period. To win you basically have to swim at the same pace that you would a 400. I loved to watch a friend of mine compete and win the 800 in high school, but I, being a shot putter and discus thrower at the time, thought they should have an ambulance at every high school track meet to re-insert the lungs of everyone that ran the 800 after they had coughed them up. Katie Hoff more than likely feels disappointed, but she is most assuredly not a disappointing athlete...shes at the Olympics. They dont exactly give out places on that team.