Racing to Save Lives

I did it!! I finished my first triathlon, an Olympic Distance Triathlon at that. The Tugaloo Tri was a 9/10 of a mile swim, 27 mile bike & a 6.2 mile run. When I first started training I thought no way, I can’t do this, I don’t even know how to swim with my head in the water, but thanks to Sarah, our swim coach, I did it. I swam almost a mile in 34:33. This is a real sense of accomplishment considering when Sarah said “ok swim” I splashed around franticly in the water having no idea what I was doing. I left many a swim practices down in the dumps thinking what did I get myself into. I can’t do this.

So the Friday afternoon before the big day a small group of us went to the park to get in the water and get a feel for how the next morning was going to be. I really wanted to check out the course, so I wasn’t in total shock the next morning when I saw how far apart the buoys were and boy were they far apart!!

At the Pasta Party we have a nice cozy dinner with all of our teammates, our coaches and our team’s Honored Hero Jemy and her family. Jemy’s father told her story and showed us her pictures with and without hair. What a brave little girl. He then told us how proud he was of us and how thankful they were for our program. It was a very motivating & moving dinner.

The morning of the race we all met in the hotel lobby at 4:45 and caravanned to the park. We arrived as the park was opening, pumped up our tires and headed to transition. I took my time setting up my transition area making sure everything was in proper order, about 3 times. I would say going over the transition checklist prior to the race was one of the things that worried me the most, so I wanted to make sure everything was just right.

It’s 7:20 and I am now ready to go to beach and do a warm up swim, but as I pull my goggles over my head they snap. Luckily the transition area is still open for 10 more minutes and I have an extra set of goggles in my transition bag, thanks to the checklist! I don’t let this bother me I go to the beach and jump in to get use to the water and get my muscles moving. Then they tell us to start lining up for the start, oh crap, we are really about to do this. I look at my heart rate monitor and my heart rate is 104 and I was just standing there! 2 by 2 the people in front of me are getting in. Then it’s my turn, I’m in, I look for the first buoy, no buoy the fog is so heavy by the time I get in the water you can only hope the people in front of you are going the right way. I had the most anxiety over the swim and it ended up being the easiest and least painful event of the day. What a relief!

Now I am out of the water and running toward T1. Everything went smoothly with a time of 2:47. I grab my bike and run to the mount line where I try to get on my bike twice and almost fall trying to get clipped in, but I don’t (thank goodness) and I am off for the nice hilly 27-mile ride. The bike is my weakest leg of the day. It took me 1:38:01 to complete the course, but I didn’t get a flat and I didn’t fall off my bike, so that makes for a great ride. Although I came down the hill before transition a little too fast, unclipped a little too early, and wobbled a bit I was able regain control and dismount smoothly. I ran my bike into T2 hung it up, put on my running shoes, fuel belt and hat and I was off. T2 was a lot faster with a time of 1:19.

The run was tough, hot and hilly, but it was my strongest leg of the day, with a time of 53:44. On the bike people go flying by me like I am standing still, but on the run I am able to make up a lot of time and pass a lot of people. One of the greatest things about the run was being able to cheer on the other Team In Training members since we had a lot of in and outs and turn arounds we were able see each other over and over again “Go Team”. Mile 5 to 6 was probably the hardest I was thinking, “Where is that 6 mile marker?” then I saw my husband, walking! Oh no, is he ok? He said he was so I carried on. Finally I get past the 6-mile marker and take the right hand turn heading toward the finish line, it’s all down hill from here and the Team In Training tent is close by, so I start to sprint with everything I have left in the tank and then I hear my name being called and know I am almost there. I crossed the finish line and saw my husband and friends. I did it! I just completed my first triathlon! 3:10:23 which was under my goal time of 3:30. I was ecstatic!

I want to thank all of you for your love & support. The fall triathlon teams, about 60 athletes, raised $180,880 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help fight blood cancers and we couldn’t have done it without your help.

Thank you!

Heather Sfyris