The challenges

So, I said yesterday that the past six months has been about me accepting challenges.  One of those challenges was participating in a triathlon.  Let me be very clear that I am not a swimmer or biker...at least not yet!  I am a runner and my brother in law, Scott, is a triathlete.  He graciously agreed in February seven weeks after I had Elena to do a relay triathlon with me.  He was brave.

The training began for a 10K because Scott wanted to do the Olympic distance triathlon.  I had never run that distance before, but I was up for the challenge.  The other kicker was that the triathlon was in North East, MD which is hilly.  I live in Houston and there are no hills here.  That made training tricky. 

We travel lots in the summer so I had to fit in training runs at crazy times of the day and was very thankful for family to watch the kiddos while I ran.  I was able to run hills on some of our trips.  At home, I did sprint work hoping that would help me with the hills come race day.

Me and Scott before the race..full of energy

Race day was lots of fun. The weather could not have been more perfect.  It was overcast and cool which was a blessing since the race was August 15th. Scott did awesome in the swim and bike.  Yes, we were a two person relay!  Waiting for him to return from the bike was nerve-wracking for me.  I kept checking my watch wondering if anything happened on the course.  I was happy to see him and after the timer switch off I ran.  I ran up one hill, then the next, and then the next.  Thankfully what goes up must come down!  I felt great running!!!

I had a time in mind that I wanted to run.  Having never run a 10K and especially on a hilly course, I was not sure what to expect.  Well, I surpassed my goal time and was super excited to have run a 52:15.  The best part was we finished third in the relay division and got MEDALS...so fun!!  It was so fun.  Hopefully Scott will be brave enough to do another relay with me next year!

Our medals... aren't they big?!