My First Triathlon

SWIM

When we moved to Colorado, I felt that it was important to get myself involved in the community's love for the outdoors. Not only would it help me to transition into the new culture easier, but it would also be a great way for me to shed those pounds that came with stress and discontentment in Ohio and Texas. So I set a lofty goal: I wanted to finish a Sprint Triathlon in June of 2013. I would have nine months to train for the event, and that should help me reach both goals easily!

TRANSITION

Originally, I was looking at the Boulder IronMan Sprint Trathlon. But after I started my training, I just was not feeling confident in swimming 750 meters in open water. I didn't want to quit though, so instead I did some research and found the 33rd Annual Longmont Triathlon on June 2nd. Instead of an open water swim, we would be in a pool, and it would only be 525 yards. This seemed much more manageable, and on the morning of the event, I found that I was not the only one nervous about the first leg! I was lucky enough to start in the second wave of participants, so I was able to watch the first wave slowly make their way through the laps. It helped give me a little confidence, and I would say that it was a big success for me. I finished in 1:39:33, which was better than my goal of 1:45:00!

BIKE

It's been a week and a half since the race, and I still don't know if it's set in that I reached such a big goal. I'm really proud of myself, but I need to keep pushing. I signed up for a half marathon in September, so the next four months will provide a new challenge, and should keep me moving.

RUN

I'd like to say that my first triathlon won't be my last. But I do think that it will be the only one in 2013. It took a great deal of training, and this was just for a Sprint! I found it challenging to keep up with the pool workouts especially, so I might be leaning more toward the duathlon / long distance running scene. But who knows! Maybe 2014 will make me change my mind about that...

Bolder Boulder 10K

Boulder, Colorado sees tens of thousands of people every Memorial Day weekend for their Bolder Boulder 10K. It was a perfect goal to keep my training on track and keep up with the running regimen through the winter and spring months.

50,000 people were signed up for the 2013 race, with waves starting at 7:00am. I was in a qualified heat, so the gun went off for me at 7:27, and I immediately watched everyone around me sprint ahead! Knowing that I would need to pace myself, I kept up my own snail's pace and eventually started passing most of those same people when they started walking. Throughout the run, we passed live bands playing on the sidewalks, barbecue parties starting on front lawns, and even a couple of frat parties with keg stands and all. It was definitely an event worth attending, and we will be back next year. 

I had finished the Yeti Chase in January with 1:08:00 on the clock, and I really wanted to beat that time. But Boulder's rolling hills and the hot sun kicked my butt! I ended up finishing 43 seconds slower than that goal, but this just gives me something to continue working toward for 2014!!

Our First Visitors in Colorado

This past Memorial Day weekend, my parents made the trek out to Colorado to see our new apartment and get in a good visit. They were excited to see the mountains, so we booked a two night stay in Breckenridge for the beginning of their trip. In hindsight, it was maybe a bit ambitious of us to take them to 9,600 feet as soon as they stepped off of the plane... But Breckenridge was beautiful and quiet during the holiday weekend. We were able to find some great restaurants, go for a little hike on the trails, and we stayed in a beautiful condo. The hubbie and I liked it so much, that we are talking about going back for some more hiking and maybe even some camping later this year!

After we headed back down to a more reasonable altitude of 5,800 feet, we stayed at our apartment and just spent some quality time together. Dad and I whipped up a chicken lasagna one night for dinner, which was a lot of fun. I haven't cooked with him in a long time, and it was nice to have someone help chop up that chicken!! We had some new movies in our library that they wanted to watch, and we got to talk and laugh and catch up for a few days. Since we usually only see each other once a year any more, we wanted to make sure that we made the best of it.

We took them into Boulder for the Memorial Day Creek Festival, and stopped so that they could take in the beautiful view. I don't think it was hard for them to see why we live here. We get to see those flatirons every day, and I don't think we'll ever get sick of it.  Just beautiful!