Completing a triathlon was on my bucket list for the longest time and now I can finally check that off! I signed up for the Palm Springs Desert Triathlon about 6 months prior, and had been training fairly frequently with the help of my cousin Chris. I can’t thank him enough for getting me both mentally and physically prepared for an event that I had no idea what I was getting into, lol.
The race started at 7am on Sat, March 1, 2014. The sprint course was composed of a 500 meter swim, a 14 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. I can’t begin to describe the amount of physical endurance needed to complete everything. The initial swim leg started off really well and I could see myself outpacing most of the other competitors. However, with the adrenaline pumping, I misjudged the length of the swim and started exerting more energy than I should have too soon. I ended up completely exhausted with about 2/3rds of the swim distance left. It took everything I had just to complete the rest of the swim… and I still had the bike and run legs to go!
Nevertheless, I buckled down and continued on. In the end, I placed #191 out of 381 participants, and #27 out of 37 participants in my age group (Male 35-39).
My final times:
Swim: 00:10:17
Bike: 00:47:55
Run: 00:25:11
Total: 1:28:17
Would I ever do another Triathlon? Yes, eventually. But I’m happy just having completed one for now 🙂