Danskin Triathlon

Every so often I get to cross something off of my "Life's To-Do List". My most recent acomplishment was completing the Danskin Triathlon on Sunday, July 15, at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. I have been training off and on for most of the year, though I didn't get a bike until the end of May. She's a beauty though! A brand new Trek Pilot 5.2 WSD with carbon fiber frame, ultegra components, and Bontrager racing wheels. I spent way more than I intended to but it only weighs 18.6-lbs and it rides like buttah'. Mmmm, new bike!

On race day I intended to be there an hour early but the traffic was such a nightmare that by the time we arrived I jumped out of the car and into the water without any warm up. My sister missed her wave by about half an hour, but so had many others so they added at least 10 new wave times. The swim wasn't too bad but I did worse than I expected. I thought the water would be a lot colder so we got lucky there, but I didn't swim very efficiently with all the other people around me. It was certainly my worst segment of the race so I'll have to work on that for next time.




The bike segment was awesome! Maybe I have strong legs, or a strong will, or maybe I just bought an amazing bike...either way I put my head down and charged up and over the rolling hills, passing everyone I could. I think got a little cocky by the end because I pushed myself so hard that I didn't have much left in me for the run! It's a triathlon, Ferg, not a bike-a-thon.


I dismounted at the transition and traded my bike shoes for running shoes and then head back out into the heat for the 5-km run. It was in the low 90's by now and I was pretty dehydrated. My legs were bricks after the bike and I had trouble jogging much faster than a brisk walk, but I told my self that I'd much rather run slowly the whole way instead of burning out and having to walk like so many of the other athletes. Seeing the finish line in the distance breathed new life into me, and I managed to sprint the last stretch to put my foot proudly over that line. A short while later we got to cheer Christine on as well.






Many thanks to Steve for coming out to support me and taking all these great pictures. He's jazzed about doing a triathlon now too, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Now if I could only get cracking on that swim.


My Results:
Overall Rank: 742 of 2228
Swim: 00:23:21, Rank 1391
Bike: 00:43:20, Rank 441
Run: 00:31:53, Rank 759
Final Time: 1:46:13