The 14th Women’s Triathlon
First of all, thanks to all the people that I forced to vote on my website. The truth is that I made up my mind about doing this and just wanted a concrete justification for my actions. This way, if something awful (tfu tfu) had happened, I could always blame everything on someone else 
It all started when the race season ended. I felt like I was in good shape and it’s a shame to let it go to waste (and waist) so this seemed like the most logical progression for me. The logistics of the whole thing was my only drawback. I don’t like having a lot of things to keep track of because I know myself and I know that It’s hard for me to do more than one thing at a time. Switching from swimming to cycling to running and remembering your number and trying to actually do your best seemed like a bit much. Surprisingly though, I did just fine except for one little slip up that I will tell you about soon.
I woke up at 4:45 in the morning. I usually only see that hour when I’m jet-lagged or back from a crazy party or drank a lot before I went to bed so that was tough. After I got over that, I drove over to the Marina and unpacked the bike that my favorite spinning instructor helped me out with (the only bike I own is a mountain bike and that simply isn’t good enough apparently so I borrowed a crazy road bike). The way it works is that you have the ‘changing area’ where you find a spot (and remember it), and unpack all your sh**t in an orderly fashion ( you just copy from the person next to you). I put my running shoes farthest and then my cycling shoes closer to me and both were on a towel I never used along with water that I never drank and gross gel food I never ate next to the bike I never fell from, well , not yet anyway. I hung out a bit in the changing area and practiced putting my shoes on and off. It was sort of exciting having so many women prancing around and everyone was nervous and comparing bikes and standing in line for the bathroom and still standing in line for the bathroom… and making meaningless conversation while waiting for the bathroom and going to the bathroom and feeling lucky when they see the new line accumulating for the bathroom and feeling good they got there early. They then announced that the sprint women should go down to the beach so I did. All the girls stood there waiting to hear the instructions when all of the sudden I saw my mom and dad and … my favorite spinning instructor and they wished me good luck. Then there was a countdown and everybody ran into the water. It sort of felt like a mass suicide mission. I bet that on Messada they felt a little bit like we did today… The swim was fine and I got some of that sweet salty sandy taste swishing in my mouth every once and a while but it’s all good and I continued on. When I got out, I ran to the ‘changing area’ and quickly put my sunglasses on , my helmet, my number and my cycling shoes, and took my bike to the starting point. Then I started cycling. The cycling consisted of five laps and ended right back at the Marina in Herzlia. I have never spent so much energy simply counting from zero to five in my life. Luckily, my undiscovered disleksia (irony…) had already kicked in earlier today when I was writing my number on my arm… (see image on right) My number was 3161 and not … well.. not that anyway. Lets see you write numbers on your arms and legs and back of legs! Nobody noticed though so I guess it’s ok. When I finished my fifth lap, I turned left back down to the ‘changing area’ and all of the sudden there was a line that I had to stop at ( the official end of cycling line). So I stopped… and my right leg was out of the pedal so I thought it would be funny if I fell to the left side. No big deal, only about 50 people watching plus, I haven’t done anything stupid yet so it was about time… Anyway, I got right back up and changed to my running shoes. You know how in the cartoons, when the cartoon gets smushed and turns into an accordion or just to blinking eyes with legs? And then they walk around? Well, that’s how I felt when I switched from cycling to running. Maybe if I had put my thumb in my mouth and blown, then I would have gotten back to normal. It took me a good 15 minutes for my legs to regain relative consciousness. I did it though, and finally reached the finish line where, once again, my mom was waiting with a cup of ice cold coffee from cafe Joe… so fun. Overall, I definitely recommend this experience to others. It’s fun and competitive and it’s a bit more difficult than a simple 10km run. Since i don’t have a decent bike, I’m not sure I can continue competing but you never know… someone might see this and believe in me… or someone might crack an evil laugh… so really, we’ll wait and see. I guess what I’m trying to say is … Yay me! Till next time …. And special thanks to my favorite spinning instructor who helped me out soooo much. Oh, and mom and dad who come out invisible in photos… And my friend Rakefet who came even though she couldn’t participate.
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June 2, 2007 11:16 am 
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