A Weekend of Firsts

The past few years, and the past year in particular, I've experienced a number of racing-and-training-related "firsts".  For fun, here are a few...

First half marathon (April 2009)
First full marathon (October 2009)
First time seeing a PT and orthopedic physician for Achilles tendinitis, resulting in 2 months of NO RUNNING aside from "pool jogging" (October 2009)
First time getting top female in an event (a SMALL 5k in April 2011)
First stress fracture (April 2011)
First time swimming in open water AND in a wetsuit (May 2011)
First triathlon (May 2011)
First time using clips on my bike (August 2011)
First yoga class (September 2011)
First century ride (October 2011)
First time actually getting fitted for running shoes by someone who knew what they were talking about (March 2012)
First time purchasing and riding a shiny new Trek carbon road bike (May 2012)
First time witnessing someone (my father) falling off of a bike, necessitating an ER visit, resulting in recurring mental anguish (May 2012)
First Olympic tri (June 2012)
First half Ironman (September 2012)
First experience with chafing so severe I had to resort to Desitin (September 2012)
First experience working with a tri coach (November 2012)
First time using aero bars (March 2013)
First time getting stuck in my pedals and falling off of my bike...twice for good measure (April 2013)


The weekend of May 3-5, I added some more "firsts" to my growing list:

First time participating in a Rev3 event (AWESOME!)
First time visiting Knoxville, Tennessee
First time participating in a relay triathlon (or any sort of relay race, for that matter!)
First time swimming in the Tennessee River
First time swimming in open water during the 2013 season
First time placing in a 70.3 relay!

My awesome coach, Laura, extended an invitation to complete a 70.3 relay with her at Rev3 Knoxville to myself and Steve, another athlete she coaches.  I was hesitant (the two of them, Laura in particular, are MUCH more adept triathletes than I am!)...but am glad I agreed to go.  It was a BLAST...and a fabulous learning and training opportunity.

Aaaaand...we got third in the relay category of the race!  I completed the swim portion, Laura did the bike and Steve ran.  It was a NASTY weekend, weather-wise.  I don't think it stopped raining the ENTIRE time we were in Knoxville!  Clearly it didn't affect me in the swim (c'mon...water is water), but the bike and run portions of the race had to be just miserable (Laura and Steve are champions!!).  I will say, though, the swim was a challenge in its own right...the water was about 58 degrees!  It was so stinking cold!!  I was grateful for my wetsuit....and for the thermal swim cap Laura lent me!

This race definitely got me pumped up for triathlon season...AND it made me eager to try out more Rev3 events!




Team Epic Endurance...with our SWEET Rev3 Knoxville finishers' medals AND third place medals!



NOT very excited about the cold  water...this was taken the day before the event; we were allowed to practice on the course.



Pretending to be stoked



Thinking about going in...



I look pretty happy...I was probably simply delirious from the cold



Pretending to know what I'm doing