Olympic Triathlon: I made the Podium!!!

Yesterday was "the big day" and it could not have gone better! The weather started out crappy, with lots of dark clouds, but turned out to be sunny and bright. I felt very ready and wasn't nervous....well, I was hardly nervous. :)

The swim went very well! The wetsuit did what it should and I felt lighter and faster then ever before. It was a 750 meter loop swim , so you have to swim the course then run across the beach back to where you started from and do it again. Mentally that part was tough, but otherwise this went better then expected.

The bike rocked! I felt rocket fast and was leaving people in my dust. This is the one area where having previous race experience really paid off.

The run went good...not great, but good. I felt like I wasn't going fast enough. I was still passing people, but not as many as I figured. The run course was a bit boring in terms of scenery, but I was feeling strong and had plenty left in the tank. Before I knew it it was over....

With Tanyia and the kids there cheering me on, I finished the 1.5 km swim, 43.5 km bike and 10 km run in an earth shattering (...not really but it sure sounds good) time of 2 hours, 47 minutes, 38 seconds!!

I was soon shocked to learn that I had not only finished the swim, bike and run in personal best times, but had earned 3rd place in my group and 167th overall! Crazy.....I get a plaque and a medal!! YEAH!!!! I would have been happy just to finish well, but if someone wants to give me a medal who am I to argue? :) Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stick around for the awards ceremony, as we still had to drive to my parents place to collect Jack (...remember our dog Jack?), but Trisport Canada agreed to mail me everything.

All things said, it was an amazing weekend and it meant the world that my family was there to share it with me.