Goal...Accomplished

Since before last Thanksgiving I've had a goal rattling around in my head. Yesterday, I accomplished it. It is one of the best feelings in the world.

I did a triathlon. Christopher found a seemingly do-able race for me to try with just the right distances and just the right amount of preparation time. I asked a couple of my friends to join me, which happily became five (most all of us are in a small-group bible study together...we all go to church together...we have 15 kids between us!). Of course, there were tears for most of us at the finish line. What a cool thing to get to do with these awesome friends.

So for the last 3+ months I've been training towards this crazy goal. I know I'm supposed to say that I did it to prove something to myself. I'd say that's mostly true. But I also finished this thing for Christopher, for all the weekends he sacrificed for my long rides and runs, for his own training that was sacrificed for mine, for the encouragement and investment in me. I wanted him to be proud of me, too.

My sister came out to Palm Springs for the festivities and was a huge cheerleader and great kid-wrangler and a great support for me. It was fun to have her with us. The race went really, really well after the swim. I'm thrilled with my times on the bike and run, and even my overall time beat my goal. It was a real bummer (no, it was terrifying actually) to be kicked in the head at the beginning of the swim (turns out I have a damaged ear drum), but I am even more thankful that it didn't take me out of the race.

I know Christopher is waiting anxiously to see if I got bit by the triathlon bug. We're gonna have to wait and see on that one (I need the memory of that swim to wear off a bit). I know I'll always be thankful that we did this one.