I found this website a few months ago and appreciated reading everyone's stories and advice. I figured I better write up my experience in my first triathlon.

I decided to participate in the olympic distance Lifetime Fitness Tri in Minneapolis, MN. I work as a consultant so finding training time became difficult. It was a late winter in MN so swimming and practicing outdoors was also a problem. As I approached the race day I couldn't have been more anxious. My goals conistently changed from a time goal of 3 hours to just finishing based on how much I trained.

The day before the race I had to fly home from work in Seattle to MN. Of course my flight was delayed 2 hours causing me to arrive at my apartment at 11pm. I finished packing my gear and organizing everything by midnight. I went to put my bike in my car and decided to pump up the tires. The rear valve broke off when I was pumping! First flat tire I have had. I had to figure out how to change the tire which took me until 1:30am. I finally got to bed around 2 and sat wide eyed open with excitment for my 4am wake up call. A quick "nap" until 4 and I was ready to go. I had my powerbar and jumped in my car. All the major roads I needed to use were closed due to construction! I didn't know about this as I had been traveling for work. I finally find some back roads and make it to the race. Upon arriving and getting my bike out I realized I left my helmet sitting right on the table next to the door. Unreal! I sped home as I am worried that all these backroads were going to take forever and I would miss the final registration. I got back to the race but now I had to park miles away as everyone was already there. I finally get my body marked and arrive at transistion with about 5 minutes to prepare as they were trying to get everyone out of the transistion area. My friend had dropped off some goggles for me and said I should use them. I jumped in the water to try them out for the first time and was impressed. As my race started I must have forgotten to press the goggles tight to my face because I had water in the goggles about 10 strokes into my swim. A quick adjustment and I'm ok and off. About 100 yds to go and I get a cramp in my calf. The excitement of getting out of the water was enough to fight through that pain though. I cruised into the transistion with the clapping of the fans which was amazing. Right before I get to my bike I end up throwing up in the T area due to the massive amount of water I had swallowed haha. A couple minute break and I am off. I was excited for the bike as I am most confident in that area. 15 miles into the ride I am going much faster than I expect when all of the sudden my rear tire goes "POP". Flat tire. Same one I had fixed the night before except now I do not have a spare. I assumed my race was over but someone else had popped their tire in the same spot. They had an extra patch that I used to fix my tire and left with hope that I could finish the remaining 10 miles. 4 miles later my tire was flat again and I was devastated. I pulled up to a race official who made a couple calls and ended up bringing me a new tube for my tire. Another quick fix (good thing I got practice the night before!) and I was able to finish the bike. The run was a little slower than I hoped but went without and problems.

Overall I don't think much else could have gone wrong but I loved all of it and am already looking to continue my training and find the next race in the area. My official time was slow due to the flats by my actual time (I had a watch I started and stopped with my problems) was right on my 3 hour mark. I'm hoping to get more competitive by improving my swim and run times and can't wait for my next race!

Sorry for the long post! Thanks again to everyone for their advice in here!