The majority of our week [for me at least] was spent working and preparing for my race on Saturday. That left my poor husband to eat dinner a few nights on his own. Hence the Spaghetti-o’s. Gag…
I also found him later in the bath tub with a bag of tortilla chips. Yes, I am serious. He must have felt really neglected.
As for work, I went into E2 three days this week to do some freelance work. Some parts were pretty awkward. They haven’t hired a replacement for my position yet, so they needed some help catching up on some design work and offered me a generous hourly fee. Turns out working there for three days on a freelance rate I would actually make more than my regular salary before, so I can’t complain. My office was completely empty – except for this fortune my co-worker had left on my keyboard. It made me miss them all so much.
We also tried a new restaurant in Salt Lake: Pizzeria Limone. We loved our pizzas and loved that it was an express style restaurant.
Then the weekend came. I’ve been trying not to post too much about this upcoming triathlon. I didn’t want to be annoying, or anything like that. I have kept it kind of low key because not only do I consider myself the last person on the planet to actually finish one, but because I didn’t know if I could actually do it. Physically. I am not an athlete. I can do certain sports but most of them require boards: wakeboarding, snowboarding…you get the idea. When my sister-in-law asked me to participate in a sprint triathlon with her I thought she was crazy. What is even crazier, though, is that I agreed to do it. I had never swam laps in a pool before [which is bananas considering my father was a water polo coach]. I had never ridden long distance on a road bike before. I would tell family and friends and they all gave me the same reaction: “You? A triathlon?” I know, people. Two years ago I could barely run a mile, so that reaction was well deserved, I guess. I know what you are thinking. I am not writing this so people will think/say, “Good for her! She trained for a triathlon!” That’s not me. I am writing this because I want my family [including my future kidlets] and friends to know that anyone can accomplish something that seems difficult if they really put in the work. So please forgive me. If you don’t want to hear about the details, please feel free to skip to the photos of the rest of our weekend.
I remember downloading a free “three month training schedule” online and looking it over week by week. It didn’t seem that hard, but it gradually became more and more difficult. I also remember my first time “swimming laps” in the pool. There are quotations around that statement because I wasn’t really swimming laps. I would swim two laps in the pool and have to take a rest. And there were lots of flailing limbs. My dad told me that to be prepared for an open water swim I should be able to swim 40 laps in the pool [1,000 yards] without stopping. The swim leg of the race was the thing that I was most terrified for, so I put a lot of time into that sport. 5:15 am [two times a week] were spent at the South Davis Rec competition pool. Yes, 75-year-old women would lap me. But I actually learned to love it. Not being lapped, the swimming part. In fact, if I have learned one thing from this whole experience it is that I love to swim. Something about the water just calms your nerves and rejuvenates you. The bike, however, I didn’t love. I still don’t love it, to be honest. I was riding so many stupid miles on that bike and the only result I was getting was that my hoo-ha was really, really sore. Yes, I wore the special padded shorts. I just don’t think it is natural to have all that weight on someone’s baby maker. The running wasn’t so bad. I had been running off and on for months before I started this training, so this is the event I felt most confident in. My only problem was that I had never ran over 5 miles. Ever. It’s like my brain would tell my body it was impossible for me to go any further once I hit that point, so I never pushed it. Until now. My “schedule” said by the end of this training I should be swimming 1,000 yards non-stop, biking 70 min, and running 6 miles. I know for you marathon/aquathon people this sounds like a cake walk…but combining all three was by far the most difficult part. I followed that stupid schedule to the letter. I finally reached all of those goals and felt ready to go into this event. My dreams were the only things that were making me nervous, to be honest. One night I would dream my tire popped half way through the bike. Another I would dream I got kicked in the face by another swimmer out in the lake. The worst, however, were the “me tripping” dreams. Tripping on the last mile of my run. Tripping over my bike. Tripping coming out of the water while trying to take off my wetsuit. Anyway, so I don’t bore you with any more ridiculous details, the weekend of the race finally came. I kept checking the temperatures for Bear Lake on race day and things were not looking good. The water was surprisingly warmer than expected: 65 degrees. The air temperature and wind was what was making me nervous. Wind in a lake and on a bike is never a good combo. I tried to ignore the conditions and focus on packing everything I needed. I think I went through my checklist 10+ times, no lie. I also decided to finally set some goals. Everyone had been telling me to set some reasonable goals before the event so I could push myself and stay motivated. My two goals were to: 1. Not drown. 2. Finish the race. I seriously didn’t care if I was the last one to cross the finish line, I just wanted to cross it.
Friday my family met up at my house and we all drove together up to Bear Lake. Zach, my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousin all decided to stay up at Bear Lake to attend the race. We stayed at the Fotheringham cabin. My uncle Cal was participating in the race as well [but the Olympic distance] and let us crash there along with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We didn’t get up there until after dark and took a quick drive around the bike course to get a feel for what we were up against the next morning.
After we unpacked and settled in, we didn’t get into bed until after 10:30. Luckily Rachael and I both slept well. We had to be up at 5:30 to leave for the course and the weather was only 50 degrees. By the time we entered the beach area, set up our gear, and put on our wetsuits it had reached 55.
The water was still 65, so by the time we had to enter the water for our heat I was welcoming the warmth. Rachael and I were in the same heat and I was grateful because she calmed my nerves when we were awaiting our start.
Then the buzzer sounded and we were off! As expected, I got kicked in the face within the first two minutes of the swim. To avoid getting jacked again I decided to swim far away from the other ladies. This meant I had to swim a little father than the rest, but it was worth it. I suddenly found myself swimming all alone and couldn’t really site around me to see who was there, so I just kept swimming. I finally hit the last marker and could see the swim finish line on the beach. Still there were no other people around me and I started to panic. I thought for sure I would be the last one out of the water. When I finally could touch sand I pushed myself up and turned to look behind me. I saw that I wasn’t the last one out, I was in the top ten finishers! It got me so excited that I ripped the top half of my wetsuit off and started to run up the beach.
I ran to my transition, put on my bike gear, and was off on the bike. It took me a few minutes to realize Rachael was right in front of me! We completed the bike course quicker than I had hoped and it was by far the easiest of all three sports. The only draw back was that I was frozen from being soaked with lake water. Rachael and I both completed the bike within seconds of each other.
We ditched our helmets and set off for the run. By the time we hit the 1 mile marker my legs were spent. That last 2.1 miles was the longest and hardest run I have ever done. We crossed the finish line together and I couldn’t have been more relieved.
Truth be told, I had another goal. I wanted to finish the race under 2 hours. We finished in 1 hour and 44 min.
I have to say that at the beginning of this process I wasn’t excited. I was dreading the whole thing. But now that it is has come and gone I can honestly say how grateful I am to Rachael for asking me to participate in this with her. Preparing myself for this pushed me harder physically than I ever thought I could be pushed. I think it’s made me a stronger [mentally] person as well. Yeah, I didn’t lose 10 pounds like I was hoping. Even with the whole quitting Diet Coke thing. It’s all good, though. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and did something I would have never done on my own. I also was so thankful to my family. So many of them came to support us and they even made shirts and signs.
The shirts read “Team Henderham” – for the Hendersons and Fotheringham (my uncle who competed). They were there the entire 2+ hours screaming their guts out for us. My brother even called me afterwards to tell me how proud he was.
We left Bear Lake and I enjoyed the drive through Logan Canyon with an ice cold Diet Coke. Probably the best I’ve ever had to date. Everyone kept asking me what I wanted to eat after and all I could think about was peach pie. So on on our way home we stopped in Brigham City at Maddox for a giant piece of their famous fresh peach pie. We ate lunch, too…
As soon as we got home we had to quickly unload our bags and drive to the Oval in Kearns for Zach’s playoff ice hockey game. We were both totally exhausted, but Zach managed to score a goal and they won third place in the tournament!
He even got a prize for the most goals in the entire tournament: a bubble gum flavored mouth guard.
Immediately after the game we drove to South Jordan to have dinner and watch the Utah vs. BYU game at my aunt’s house. I remember there were tacos and Diet Coke, but quickly fell asleep on their sofa before half time. I was hoping to have a nap between the drive home and the hockey game, but there wasn’t enough time. I was ecstatic when I awoke from my slumber to learn that the Utes came away with another win against the Cougars! I wish I could have survived the whole game, but was glad I got to spend some more time with my family.
Sunday after church we drove up to Ogden to visit Zach’s dad. He had surgery a few days prior on his shoulder and we thought he could use some visitors. We brought some of his favorites…including chocolate doughnuts.
I think this weekend just reiterated my gratitude for my family. I am so blessed to have been born and to have married into the families that I have. Everyone kept telling me how proud they were to see me at the finish line. Truth is, I was the one who was proud. I teared up when I finished that stupid race, but it wasn’t because I was happy it was over or that I finished. It was because I turned a corner and saw so many people I that loved screaming my name and jumping up and down. No better feeling in the world, I tell you.
