Sunday, June 21, 2009

and the winner is....

ME!!!

Yup, that's right, not only did I survive the mini-tri, but I rocked it out, and at 1 hour and 14 minutes, finished first! Okay, so it ended up being a biathlon in my case, but still - after I crossed the finish line and they announced my time, I walked up to my trainer and was all, "so, where's everyone else?". She looked at me, and seemed confused, and said "everyone who?" I looked at her, and said "you know, the ones who are finished already." This was the moment when it hit me. Or when she mentioned, "uh, Carly? there IS no one else. you're the only one done."

Dude!

Okay, so I'm all over the place, but it was awesome.

Starting from the beginning:

E and I were up, ready (pb&j in tummies) and headed out by 7, with us being at the meeting place at exactly 7:30 am. We were weighed in (50 lbs, thankyouverymuch!), marked and measured, and then grouped up to hear the course. The trainers decided to do a 1.8 mile walk/run instead of a 3, with 9 miles biking and 1/4 mile swim, which somehow meant swimming or water jogging. We all got ready, and headed out to the pool.

Amanda & I, before go-time

Except for me, who headed indoors on my awesome stationary bike they brought over from the gym. Yup, I was that girl. It took me a few to adjust the seat, got on and "headed off". I've never been more thankful for my iPod, by the way, since it kept me pumped the entire time. About 3 minutes in, my trainer decided that instead of walking the 1.8 miles, I should just do an extra 6 on the bike, for a total of 15 miles. 2 days ago, I doubted being able to do 9 miles, and all of a sudden, it was practically double?!?!?! I decided to do what I could do, try my best, and hang on. Around mile 5, my energy level took a bit of a hit, so I decided to take some lemon-lime gu
- such a strange texture, it was like a Vaseline-maple syrup lovechild! It was kinda gross to be honest, but did the trick! Mile 9 was a tough one, and I ended up needing to use my inhaler. Then, the rest was kind of a blur. 6 miles later, I was done, hopped off the bike, and went out to the pool. I started swimming, but my heart rate went nuts, so I switched to water jogging, which was surprisingly still pretty challenging! The minute I was done, my goal was to dry off as much as possible, which I realized pretty quickly was easier said than done. Sopping wet, I threw on my clothes and my kicks, and headed for the finish line.

Being done was fantastic - I did what I set out to do, and even though I couldn't do it the way everyone else did, I did it my way, and succeeded. If you can't be proud of that, what can you be proud of??? I felt so much support, from fellow bloggers and readers to family and friends to the strangers at the tri, that there was no way I'd come out as anything other than a winner! The best part? The chocolate chip Cliff Kids ZBar that was waiting for me at the end, as was this.



In all seriousness, I don't know what was better: seeing my time, or realizing that I'd burned over 800 freaking calories doing it.

A week ago, I didn't know if I could bike the 9 miles - I figured if I could, it'd take 1 hour and a half to 2, I'd be in last place and I'd be too exhausted for anything else. It felt nice to put myself in my place, and prove to the most important person of all that I can and did do it.

13 comments:

Sbelle said...

Congrats, Carly! You look great and you deserve that victory! You're such an inspiration (even to us up in Canada)!!

Talia said...

Congratulations Carly! That's amazing and you're such an inspiration!

Rachel said...

SWEET! It's such a great feeling to achieve what once seemed impossible! Enjoy the feeling!

Lost In Splendor said...

That seriously blows my damn mind. You're inspiring as hell. Plus you're making me realize that maybe...just maybe I could do it too.

Stephanie said...

I'm SOOOOO PROUD OF YOU OMG!!!!
Carly that's incredible, you should be proud of yourself because even though you had to do it differently, you still did it and you came in FIRST which is also incredible!

After having the most epic day from hell, this made me smile!

Unknown said...

Wow, Wow, Wow, How Incredible - you not only did it you came in first and maybe you did it differently but I think 6 miles on the bike is much harder than a 1.8 mile run/walk. I am so very proud of your strength and determination. And to top it off you reached 50 lbs.
I hope you are as proud of yourself as I am. You are an inspiration

Danielle said...

Woah, congrats! I know I couldn't do that bike ride! You have so much to be proud of :)

K from ksgoodeats said...

CONGRATS!!! Be proud of yourself because that's fantastic :)

Erica said...

ah!!!! Congrats girl- you totally rock

allijag said...

AWESOME JOB! you should be SO proud of yourself! Congratulations! :)

Anonymous said...

HEy!!! Thanks for the comment on my blog...
I totally understand your highs and lows (Im right there with ya girl! Glad you found a place you love and someone to enjoy it with!)
Im excited to start reading your blog because I just love it and everything you're about! :)

Hope everything is going well your way!

the Provident Woman said...

Congrats!!!

Tina said...

wow what a huge accomplishment! Totally impressed over here. Have a great weekend!