Lindsay does the Danskin triathlon

I still have to take a deep breath when I think about the swim yesterday in the 18th annual Women’s Danskin Triathlon. I signed up for this months ago with the thought “Why not do something new and exciting after having Amelia??” So a triathlon made the cut and I signed up with the intention of training, training, training. After a little training and several months, August 19th arrived with much rain! Dave, Amelia and I got up at 5:30 and headed out for my first triathlon, rain gear and all.

Before my wave started the swim I watched nervously as other participants sprayed vegetable oil on their legs, put on wet-suits, conducted rituals and had second thoughts…I didn’t know I was suppose to spray veggie oil on myself! At 7:40 wave 20, consisting of 100+ 25-29 year olds rushed into the 69 degree water of Lake Washington. The swim was 604 meters and the first 100 meters were the hardest of the whole triathlon. I think a combination of nerves, cold water, and 100 other people trying to swim to the same point made it hard to get into a rhythm and catch my breath. After several gulps of water and some calming thoughts I felt better and finished the swim in 14:48. The bike was 12 miles and consisted of riding along Lake Washington Blvd, across the I-90 express lanes onto Mercer Island and back. I rode Dave’s old “Shogun” which didn’t get a flat (thank goodness!) and finished in 43:14 at 17.2 mph. Last was a 5 K (3.1 mile) run to Seward Park and back. I anticipated this part as the most difficult but thanks to adrenaline and seeing Dave & Amelia on my way out of the run, I set a pace of 8:27 and finished the run in 26:13 and completed my first triathlon in 1:32:29, #437 out of 3496. Loved it and can’t wait to do another one. I have some improvements to make: practice swimming in open water and push harder on the bike since the run wasn’t nearly as hard as I had anticipated. The following are my ranks for each event: Swim – 771, Bike – 746, Run – 245.

You can see pictures on our website of me running to the transition area after the swim, leaving on the bike ride, and at the end of the race. Dave didn’t get a good photo of the run – I think I was probably going to fast;)