{SWIM, BIKE, RUN}

Clear back in December, just two months after giving birth to Andersen, I decided the only way I was going to lose my baby weight was to sign up for something and hold myself accountable for working out. I decided with the suggestion of my boss to do the Woman of Steel Triathlon. I can't say it helped lose the baby weight like I was hoping but this definitely was an experience I will never forget. My neighbor Nikki and my boss's wife Jennifer signed up as well. With our ridiculously cold weather that lasted all the way up until our race I had to do a lot of training inside. I started by just running on the tread mill at home. As time got closer, us three started Saturday work outs. This is when it all got real for me! I couldn't believe I was actually going to do this. The most I have ever done was a little 10K.... This was supposed to be 300 meter swim, 12.75 bike, and the 3 mile run. Saturday, May 22 was the big day. We all woke up early to go down to American Fork to pick up our registration packets, pick up our time chips, and get marked with our numbers on our arms, and age and "S" for sprint on our legs.
Next thing you know, our bikes and transition areas were all set up and we were waiting for it all to start. The night before, it rained and rained and rained and even snowed a little bit. It was FREEZING!! So to prevent hypothermia, they canceled the swim and added a mile run before the bike... So now the order we were racing in was run, bike, run. I was totally bummed because running is my least favorite part and swimming is my strongest, but its not like I could do anything to change it, so I got over it really quick. If only I would have known earlier I would have totally worn something else and maybe put on some mascara so WARNING the following pictures are scary!! Here we all are, smiles and all, right before the race was about to begin. The picture doesn't even come close to showing how cold we were and how nervous I was.
After a freezing mile run, an even colder 12. 75 bike ride with my fingers feeling like they were going to snap off because they were so cold, and another 3 miles of running, here Nikki and I are running to the finish line. Like I said before I have a love hate relationship with running and to be honest I was hurting that last mile of the run, so thank goodness Nikki caught up to me {Not that I was faster, but we started at different times because of the number of athletes participating} so we could finish the last mile together. She was so good to pace me and keep me going so we could reach the end together

What a good feeling it was to cross the finish line. All I could think about was how much I had grown to love Nikki and how grateful I was that she did it with me. As we were crossing the finish line all I could hear was the announcer saying our names. It was awesome and we even had a little moment as we finished with a big hug. We both even shed a couple tears together. What an accomplishment for me! {We even used this to pass off one of our personal progress projects} Here is the after of us 3 even though Jennifer had finished about 5 minutes before us.
And here is my personal cheering section! Thanks to everyone for all the support. My mother in law was always asking how training was going and encouraging me that I could do it and how great it was. Nate was always so willing to watch the boys as I would take every Saturday morning to train for hours at the gym, and the best little helper Jackson always getting my running shoes for me when he knew I was leaving for the gym. My overall time was 1 hour and 35 minutes and some seconds {I don't remember} Nikki was 40 seconds faster than me and Jennifer was the winner out of us three.