Yep. I did it. I competed in a triathlon and I didn’t die. I actually had a great time and did pretty well for my first go at it. I am so proud of myself for setting a goal and sticking with it. I’m amazed that I set out to do this completely on my own and that I followed through. When I showed up on Saturday for the pre-race meetings, it was somewhat intimidating. There were groups of women and girls who had been training together and were all huddled together giggling and laughing together. I was by myself, which was fine, but a little scary. I was feeling so many mixed emotions on Saturday. I was so excited, but also nervous and terrified. I had no idea what to expect except what I had read in my book beforehand.

I spent the night in a hotel nearby so that I wouldn’t have to drive out to Sandy Hook early in the morning. Of course I woke up at three am and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I was running on four hours of sleep for my race. Good job Amanda. Rob drove me out to the race site and sent me on my way. I felt good about my transition spot and felt like I had plenty of space for all my things. Rob found his was to the transition area and snapped this shot before I headed out to the water. I’m ready to take on the world.
One of the things that I really stressed out about was whether or not to wear my wetsuit. There was a tornado the day before and so the water was really quite warm, but I was still worried about the shock of getting into the water. I decided to wear it and wasn’t alone. I felt good about wearing it.

I was starting to feel really excited about what was about to happen and so I headed over to the water area. It wasn’t close to the transition area at all. And you had to walk over this nasty gravel that tore your feet apart. Good job Sandy Hook. I was already dreading having to head back to the transition after the swim. One of the first things that I saw when I got to the water were two medical stretchers. Yep. Just in case I died in the water. I guess thats reassuring, but still somewhat alarming. I moved on and focused on the water and the buoys that were in place.

Once the race started and I saw the Elite category women start their swim, I was ready. I knew this was going to be fun. I waited patiently and started towards the back of my wave.

Once I was in the water and got past the crowd of the first 100m, something took over and I became a water beast. I swam faster and more consistent than I ever have. I was passing people left and right. I was in a rhythm and nothing was going to stop me. When I hit the end I knew that I had swam at the top of my wave. I got out and started the treacherous trek back to the transition area.

Rob was there cheering me on. He’s the best ever.


The bike started off great. The first five miles felt pretty darn good. I wasn’t as fast as I wanted. but I was keeping a consistent pace. Then the last five miles happened. Once you made the loop back, there was the wind. It was blowing hard. In your face. Off the ocean. It was really hard. I had to peddle so hard just to keep going, forget about going fast. This slowed me down quite a bit. I was also starting to feel tired and I really didn’t want to push myself too hard. I knew that I still had coming and my goal was to not stop, so I held back a little.

Then came the run. Rob was there once again cheering me on. Here I go into the run.
My legs didn’t feel like lead, which was so surprising and great. I was tired, but actually felt like I could do it. I’m a slow runner and this was no different in the race. I didn’t want to stop, so I keep a slow pace. This is the hardest part of the race for me, so I need to really up my run training. But, I’m still happy that I didn’t have to stop running.

I crossed the finish line and go my medal. I’m a winner.


I received 939th place out of 1189 people. That means that there were 250 people slower than me. I’ll take it. Here were my official final times. I’m pretty proud of them. Especially the swim time.
I’m already plotting how to get faster and how to improve at my next triathlon. Yep. You heard it here first. My next triathlon. There will be another one. Soon. I’ll keep you posted as to when.

I encourage everyone out there reading this to set a goal for yourself that really challenges you but also makes you a better person in the process. There is no better feeling than accomplishment. Now that my first goal has been accomplished, I have set a whole other set of goals and will push to achieve them. I encourage you to do the same.