Veni, Vidi, Permissum Sicco a Vix Rideo Risi Risum, Vici

We Came, We Saw, We Let Out a Nervous Chuckle, We Conquered!



Yes, I am finally posting about the triathlon! It took us 8 weeks to train for it, 4 days to have nightmares about it, 30 minutes to stare at the ocean and wonder what the heck did we sign up for and then convince ourselves that we owned it, and 1 1/2 hours to prove ourselves RIGHT....about it all!




Way to go fellow Smokin' Hot Momma Triathletes and the lone Big Poppa Britt!










Yes, that would be Britt the Big Poppa and his little Hot Momma wife Emily C.




Veni We Came





We totally tore into Mexico Beach Florida with spirits running high, gas running low, and kids just running. We drove in with beautiful clear skies, even clearer water and nothing but a peaceful restful Friday to get us set for our race on Saturday.



This is us and our "practice run" on Friday. Do you see that water? Beautiful.








Emily C., Ariel, Kendall, and Bonnie (me) all sporting our goggles.




Vidi We Saw



Then came the wind. The wind started Friday evening and as Aaron and I slept with our doors open up to the balcony that looked directly out to the ocean I heard that wind blow all night long pushing in those waves. I think I got about 4-5 hours of sleep that night and sent up about 40-50 pleading prayers. Something to the affect of "really? does it have to be this way? isn't fearing sharks and jellyfish enough to exhaust us? must there be waves?" Then as the night continued to pass and the wind continued to blow it sounded a little bit more like "I'm begging here. I can't fight waves and then bike and then run. That is not exactly what I had in mind. Please calm the seas. It was done for Peter and he just wanted to walk on water. I'm in 3 events." Okay. So maybe it didn't have that exact tone. But, it was about only 4 hours of sleep so maybe it was pretty close to that tone.



Nevertheless, the winds did calm a bit. Definitely not the peaceful and serene Friday morning we enjoyed but better than the waves I heard during the night. Prayers answered.



Permissum Sicco a Vix......(okay that is really long) We Let Out a Nervous Chuckle (and so is that)



We arrived at the race area at around 6:15 am on Saturday morning. The first task was to get our transition station all set up and ready for our speedy switchovers from swimming to biking, then biking to running. Well I got mine all set up.



It included the following:

• bright colorful towel (in order to spot easily - worked well),
• regular towel (to dry off with - worked well),
• baby powder (to dry feet off and get off sand - didn't use),
• tennis shoes untied (in order to slip on easy - that worked),
• socks and biking skirt out to pull on quickly after the swim (in order to not have my big hiney hanging off the bike for all to see - that worked minus the quickly part - spandex and wet legs - not a good combination),
• sunglasses for the morning sun (that worked),
• 2 bottles of water to splash face and body off (in order to wash of some salt water - didn't even waste time with it),
• sports bottle full of Gatorade (in order to pump body full of sugar - took about 2 sips),
• and hair brush (in order to not look disgusting for photos - didn't us but spent about as much time contemplating it as I would have if I just went ahead and did it).

I should have taken a picture for you, but then I would have had to have a camera also and now that would have been too much stuff.

Okay. So now I'm set up.

Then we went on to get marked. You get both arms and both thighs marked (in permanent marker) with your race number. You also get your left calf marked with your age (did I mention permanent marker?). Yeah, well about that. I am not 30 - yet. I don't turn 30 for 2 more weeks, and I find it totally UNFAIR that I have to advertise that age on my 29-year-old calf for all to see. As a side note, I will admit that I did quite enjoy having every one's ages on their legs. It totally helped me pass during the bike section. Something like "umm, she is totally 63, there is no way you are not passing a 63-year-old" or maybe something like "you can totally take that 37-year-old man. He's practically over the hill." But, then in the run when two 12 and 13-year-old boys beat me- well that kinda stunk.


Anyway, so we are marked. Then we all had a bathroom brake. Ummm, talk about nerves. I won't really go into the fact that I think the plumbing at this little park was getting over used, and I about had a panic attack when the toilet wouldn't flush for me. yyyyyyyyeeeeeeaaaahhhhh??????? um we'll skip over that part.


Now. On to the swim (and you thought we would never get there).


The swim was .45 miles, and it was set up in a triangle shape in the ocean. Here is where the nervous little chuckle comes in to play. As we all walked down the beach and saw the buoys out there I think for a moment we were all speechless. It wasn't quite as far looking as we all imagined it would be, but also seemed very much in deep creature territory. Kendall the eternal optimist (oh thank heavens she was there) just kept saying "oh we can TOTALLY do this" and my sister Emily and I just kept saying "do we have to do this?". (or maybe it was just me and I want someone to have thought it also)


We got to watch the Olympic swimmers start before us (they did twice the distance than we did in the race) and this was a very good thing. Nobody screamed. Nobody yelled shark or jelly or bobbed up and down and horrifying manner. Everybody just swam. It was good. We then knew we could swim too.




Vici We Conquered



THE SWIM - the first event





So we swam. When doing an ocean swim for the first time, I realized it was very much mind over matter. There were 4 main obstacles that had to be overcome physically as well as mentally. They include:

• waves and currents
• fellow swimmers
• salt water
• fear of the unknown and unseen

We doubled the distance in our training each day so that got us strong enough, even with the waves and current. We wanted to be surrounded by other swimmers to one help keep your course and two help keep away sharks (does that really work?), but you also get kicked, scratched, punched, and elbowed by them. The salt water is disgusting. There is no other way to say it. It is not meant for human consumption, yet consume I did. I had to stop two different times to cough it out. It is the fourth obstacle that will get you. Fear. Plain and simple. When swimming in the ocean, you could only see about 3 feet around you. You are on the edge of a panic attack the entire way. So you have two choices: panic and then still have to swim, or just swim. So we swam. I just had to keep chanting in a humorous voice (it got less humorous when I hit a cold patch of water) "that is where the monster lives, that is where the monster lives" --another story for another day.


There was a dolphin (I was informed of later) that was jumping around the second buoy. Sooooooooo glad I did not see that. I would have had that panic attack.



But, we all made it out. Britt, then Kendall, then Emily G., then Ariel, then me, and then Emily C. we keep this same order throughout the entire race and all (the girls) came within 3 minutes of each other at the finish. It was great!

THE BIKE- the second event

The bike is what killed us. Nor physically but on timing. After reviewing the result times, I now know (officially) that we are slow on the bike. We had a 15 mile bike that included a bridge/hill that you went over twice. Both times on the way down I stuck both arms straight out and yelled "Wooooooohooooooo" the whole way down. True story. It was awesome! I was also the only person doing it, but it was awesome!! It took us about 53 minutes to do this and most others in our same result range about 46. So yeah, we're kinda slow on the bike. 9 less minutes on the Seat of Fire....I gotta figure out how to do that....does it include clip-on shoes...?

THE RUN- the third event

The run was the part that we all felt most solid on. However, running after biking is like trying to run through quick sand (I suppose anyway). Your legs have to totally switch gears and figure out how to move your body again. It is mind over matter once again. Three miles at this point is not a big deal to run. However, three miles when you're totally out of breath is a whole other (or 'nuther' as I like to say) ball game.

So George got me through the run. Well, we got each other through the run. George, is about 60, can't remember what his calf said exactly, and I was about 2 steps behind him for about the first 10 minutes of the run. I would speed up (so to speak) to pass him and then he would speed up to not let me. So I finally said "You're just not gonna let me pass you are you?" and he answered "No.". That was the beginning of a friendship. George from Tallahassee and I ran the rest of the race together and chatted about how it was going for each of us. It was great. I love to run with friends. This was his first triathlon also. At 60-something, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Way to go George!! So in the running pictures on the slide show you will see me and George bringing it in together! Thanks for a good run George!

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Like I said before we all came within 3 or so minutes of each other. That was great. Kendall, Emily Graves, and Emily Chapman placed 1st, 2nd, and 4th (respectively) in their young-in age group category. Ariel and I placed 7th and 8th in our old folgie group category. (Those cut-throat old people!)

We all had a great time from start to finish and we are now officially TRIATHLETES!

Unbelievable.

Enjoy the show and thanks for reading my novel.

always the cheerleader,

bonnie