can i consider myself a 'mock triathlete?'

Alternate titles options are: Exploring Ontario, Why the Hell Can't I Breathe, Where are the Walls?, Where are the lines?, Holy Crap I did it!

Woke up this morning before 6am, anxious but ready. Thankfully I had packed everything up last night - it's unbelievable how much there to think about and remember to bring! All I had to do before leaving the house was eat, have my cup of coffee, and make sure to empty the bladder as much as possible. Sports bra on, followed by the tri suit, crap, forgot the heart rate monitor, tri suit half off, heart rate monitor on, tri suit back on. Ready to go.

I hate being late for anything. I'd rather leave early to give time to any adventures, including but not limited to getting lost at the airport lol. Windows open, music playing loud enough to keep me awake on an otherwise dreary looking morning, foggy and misty, wondering what I'd do when I got to the water, waiting on everyone as I'd be super early... again. Then nothing but red brake lights. Damn. After crawling along for what seemed an eternity, I changed the radio to the news, weather, traffic station, and was alerted about this fatal accident. Seeing the tractor trailer still perfectly balancing on the guardrail several hours after the crash, and the mangled car gave me chills as I drove by. So sad, and the victim so young. I finally got to the beach to find that only a few of us had made it on time, most were probably stuck in the traffic from the accident too.

I was happy to see others had brought wetsuits too, so we settled at a picnic table to get started with getting them on, evoking quite a few laughs among us. We then realized that we had an audience... a bunch of people, sitting in their cars, likely waiting for friends or groups, entertained by watching us wiggle our way into the neoprene tightness.

We then set up our transition areas, and into the water we went. It wasn't long before I realized that I made the right choice about renting the wetsuit... while not as weedy as I expected, thankfully, the water was cold! (uhhh, global warming? really? Obviously not here...)

Told to do a warmup until everyone was in the water, 150m to the lifeguard tower and back... this may be where the panic set in. I'm now horizontal, starting my swimming stroke, face in the water, goggles on, eyes are open; I can't see the bottom and there are no pool floor lines to follow, no walls to reach for. It was also at this moment that I realized why we did those sighting drills in the pool as I found myself going diagonal a few times. :/

Warm up over, we were instructed to swim to the end of the markers, 400m, a little longer than our race distance. Not sure if it's because I wasn't relaxed like I normally am in the pool, but my breathing was way off. I'm used to the bilateral breathing with every 3 strokes, but soon it was just about continuing to breath and staying afloat, fighting to relax. I flipped onto my back to do the backstroke a few times, and stood for a brief moment to fix my goggles, but I made it.

We grouped and chatted for a few minutes, and soon I was comforted knowing that everything I felt, even the slight dizziness as I went from swimming to standing, everyone else was too. Round two, swim back to the start; a much better swim this time. I only flipped onto my back once, and didn't stand or stop at all! Once I realized I was running out of the water, I lit up knowing that it was time to run to transition, the swim was done, and time to get onto my bike... once the wetsuit is off (which is a lot easier than getting it on)!

Felt strong on the bike, only riding a few short kilometers until the bike trail ended and back, dismounted, running shoes on, short run out 'n back. One of the clinic instructors was there taking pictures of us like the paparazzi coming across the mock finish line, now feeling like a mock triathlete!

To think that I was on crutches and not even able to get to my kitchen without pain 2 months ago, I'm so incredibly proud and feeling amazing right now. :D

Getting back home was an even bigger challenge because the highway was still closed, and I was in an unfamiliar area. Thankfully I had the map application on my iPhone, so I was able to get onto an alternate route. A few wrong turns, a road closed sign, and another detour, I finally knew where I was to get home.

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While I didn't reach the 77 comments... it was still fun to read everyone's comments. Shazza offered a deal of posting a pic of her when she gets her wetsuit (gonna hold you to that!!), Leana and Velma reminded me that they have already posted their wetsuit pics, and Stuart reminded me of his before/after pics for P90X sans shirt... so fine, here's mine.

Thursday, Terron came with me to pick up the wetsuit and had a good laugh. He was actually the one that asked if I'd be posting a picture on my blog... so asked me a few times throughout the day to put it back on so he could take the pics. Most came out a little blurry from him moving the camera, lol, but this is one of the better ones. Yes, my hair is a mess, it's a workout to put it on!!

(He insisted on taking the pic with my bike.) One of the girls this morning snapped a pic of me in the wetsuit and swim cap while setting up my transition, and am sure that since she "surprised me" taking the pic, it won't be a good one, so we'll stick with this one.

There. I did it. I did a mock tri today, and posted a pic I never thought I would. LOL

Now I'm sitting down being inspired by the Kona Ironman on tv. Have a great weekend. :)