Gravenhurst Give-It-A-Tri

So this past weekend, I competed in my first triathlon. I had registered with my brother for this event months and months ago. As the date grew closer and I got busier and busier I started to dread this race. I just wanted to be able to sleep in given I was so tired from work/school/training. But my dad had already paid the entrance fee and my little brother had entered the race, meaning my mother was counting on me to make sure he got out of the water!
The event was a 400m swim (so 16 laps of a standard 25m lap pool), 10k bike, and 2.5k run. The swim was no problem and the run I could do in my sleep. I was worried about the bike so the only real training I did for the event was taking my mom's road bike out for half an hour to figure out the gears and get used to the new bike (which I did two days before the race). The bike is definitely the weakest part of my athleticism.
So then comes the morning of the 17th. My alarms goes off at 4:00 and I start gathering all my stuff. I had accepted the fact that this was going to suck, but I was going to do it with Jimmy, so it would be fun to spend an hour out with my brother. We piled in the van, picked up Nick, and headed off. As we got closer, my competitive side began to come out. I started to feel the dread lifting off my shoulders. We got there, set up the transition area,  I got changed into my wetsuit and prepared to start. I was feeling happier and much more excited. There is definitely a vibe in the air at events like these. There is an excitement and anticipation. It turns out about 80% of the people doing the event were also first time triathletes. That made me feel a little better too.
The first wave started, with all the men shooting off into the water. I jumped in with the other women in my wave and prepared to start. The gun went off and we all pushed off the dock and began swimming. Immediately I was feeling a little crappy, my arms and legs were tired, and I couldn't get into a rhythm. I just decided to suck it up and swim. Then something changed. All of the sudden I looked up and I was at the first buoy marker. I put my face back in and kept swimming. I found my groove as the crowd spread out and I started swimming faster. I began to pass other women in my wave, and also some of the slower men from the first wave. Before I knew it I was climbing out of the water and running across the dock, fumbling (rather awkwardly) to undo my wetsuit. When I got to my bike I found my brother waiting for me. We hopped on our bikes and proceeded out of the chute. The bike was easier than I expected, the dreaded hill I had heard about was nothing to brag about (haha I actually went up the hill and then a couple mins later went, "wait? was that the hill??"). Jimmy and I finished the bike, and started the run. We went pretty slowly which I was okay with (considering I had done my 19k long run the day before) and we spent the run talking (which was nice, we don't normally spend a lot of time together). We decided to sprint the last 200m or so to the finish line. The best part was I started sprinting and Jimmy looks at me and goes "when do you want to start sprinting?" and replied "I am already" he goes, "oh" and starts sprinting himself which with his long legs meant he breezed by me in about 2 seconds. I caught up with him though and we crossed the line together :)

In conclusion, I fell in love with a sport I thought I would hate. I am going to dedicate the rest of my summer to my marathon training, but I've already decided that next summer I am going to do the Sprint distance of the Gravenhurst Triathlon. The tri-a-tri distance was fun, and a great intro, but not really challenging. Plus, I want to jump off the boat at the start of the swim :)