Sunday, July 20, 2008

I am a triathlete. No longer a Wannabe.




Piwai's NY Triathlon 2008 from TiM Franklin on Vimeo.

I completed my race today!!!! Wow! Congratulations to me & all other finishers.

It was an intense day from being up at 2:30 am, giving thanks for the day, eating quiche at 3am, taking the subway train to the boat basin, setting up my transition, getting body marked, putting on my wetsuit...wow...

Here are some quick highlights of the day including some dumb things:

-One of the volunteers body marked me and she wrote my age on my calf. Twenty minutes later, I go up to another volunteer to ask why everyone else has a number on their calf and what that number represents. Yes, I completely forgot that I'd been body marked....

-Today was the first day I ever swam with my wetsuit. Yes, yes, stupid. In some ways I'm glad I did that because I hate swimming with a wetsuit and this way I found out on race day instead of the day before. Race day is tense anyway, why not just add more tension to it??!!

-I forgot to put on my goggles as I jumped into the Hudson!! Gross. Not a good start. The swim was good after a few minutes. I kept trying to avoid jelly fish. I did feel a stinging sensation on my face at some point in time, but maybe it was just Hudson grossness.

-The cycling portion. Given that I've only been on a bike a total of 10 times my whole life, I was not prepared. Yesterday I learned how to ride a road bike! Congratulations are in order to me for successfully riding 26 miles of pretty hilly terrain and sharp hairpins on the Henry Hudson Parkway. Needless to say, I often had to give way to speeding triathletes with their $4000 bikes and aerobars!

-ok, I stupidly don't know how to change a bike tire and I didn't even bring extra tubes and pump to the race. I completed the race with the faith that there would be no flat tires. And that my childlike riding skills would get me through coupled with my 1000% positive energy. Wow. I'm here. I did cry after I got off the bike because I was grateful & I wished my parents were there...Then I wiped the tears and thought "what stupid person decided that running 6miles is a good thing to do after cycling for 26 miles??" I quickly got over it and began my trot on the Upper West Side!

-My run/walk. My ankle had issues so I basically took it easy until the last 0.25 miles when I kicked it on and the African runner in me came out. The most beautiful thing was to hear spectators calling out to say "Go Zimbabwe" or "Go radiant" or "You're no longer a triathlete wannabe- you did it!!". The encouraging energy of watchers & races was amazing- I even appreciate the guy who said "keep going cookie!" to me as I slowly cycled along!

-The end- wow. Unbelievable. I have my medal. I'm a triathlete. This is the end of my quarter life crisis. Watch out world because I can do anything I set my mind to!!

Thank you to you all for your encouragement and for being there with me through this journey.

Thank you to all goodness and all life.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

you popped the cherry! CONGRATS!!!

PoN said...

Congrats!

Anonymous said...

congratulation! i stumbled upon your page by chance, but it's inspiring! fyi: my husband swam/biked/ran today, and he was definitely stung by a jellyfish. :)

RennaissanceAthlete said...

Type A: thanks!!!!

PoN: July 20th has officially come and gone!!!

Anon: Congrats for your hubby!!

Beanie said...

I'm so so proud of you.

Mely said...

Woohoo! What a victory!

Laren said...

Congrats!!!

Jen said...

Wow--Congratulations! I just found your blog by doing a search for bikram yoga and triathlete, and I totally became immersed in reading about your amazing journey this past year! I'm a former triathlete who's getting back into training after taking about a year off and I'm currently doing a Bikram Challenge. I'm curious as to how you fit in all your swim/bike/run workouts WITH the Bikram... I'm only into my second week of 5 classes a week, but I'm hoping to get back into incorporating my other three sports in soon. Any advice?