What an awesome and emotional day today at the Super Sprint Tri ouside of Sacramento. I think I did pretty good for the first time on the 400 yd. swim/8 mi. bike/2 mi. run super sprint triathlon.

Arrived at the event site to camp for the night and went to look over the route. Got real nervous seeing those buoys out in the lake. I said to myself, Is that where we have to go? Can I make it?It didn't help that the late afternoon delta breeze was really very strong that day making the water choppy.
Hopefully it will be calmer in the morning...

Bike course was fairly flat with slight rolling hills.. The run was an out and back on dirt fire roads with a few rolling hills.

Didn't sleep very well last night. Kept going over the course and the swim route in particular. All about the what if's, Am I good enough to be doing this? Would I still be considered an athlete if I come in last? Could a newbie like me eventually get good enough to move up to the full sprint level course? Would I even have a remote chance to get better at this sport?
All these negative thoughts were running throughout the night.
I have been trying to teach myself to stop that negative talk and beating myself up. Not always an easy thing to do I am finding out. Even for a split second I thought about bailing. Luckily I fell asleep and don't remember much else..

Woke up this morning at 5:30 with no negative or second thoughts. Still nervouse as hell though...
Did the check-in thing and found a great end transition spot. Got all set up, number-marked and walked around to see what the others were doing to take my mind of what was to come. Had some breakfast and chilled until race time. About 10 minutes before the start I arrived at the beach before I realized I had my sandals still on!!
Well I was off to a good start! Went back to drop them off at the transition area...

At 7:30 in we go. I was suprisingly calm with myself. Water was in the low 70's which was perfect. Air temp was also in the 70's. Did fairly well for the first 100 yds but then started to hyperventalate a little. I looked up and was bringing up the rear so I did some back stroking. This worked to calm me down a little. Once I got past the first buoy I felt a little more at ease. Did some freestyle and then backstroke the rest of the way back to shore...

Ran to T1 then put on the bike gear no problem and hit the road. So far so good. Made it back with some energy to spare and no flats or mechanical problems...

T2 went smooth as well. Time for both transitions was around 3 to 4 minutes each I think. After a half mile I started to slow down and walk for a minute or two then picked it up and made it back to the finish line with a time of around 90 minutes give or take for the entire course... Can't believe I did it! Is it even possible that I could now be considered a triathlete even though this was smaller than a sprint tri?

Definately learned a lot and have a list of things I need to work on for the next race including the mental aspect of these races... Hopefully next time I can have a little better handle on the negative thoughts and will feel more comfortable in the days leading up to the race.

Everyone was so friendly and encouraging and cheering everyone on. Greatest bunch of athletes in this sport...

Event was well planned and the entire day was just a great experience for new triathlete.

Thanks also to all the trifuelers out there. All the great tips and advice and experiences really helped.
:cool:

Next event is in September...