Swim, Bike, Run Recap

For those of you who have been hanging on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about the triathlon I competed in yesterday, your wait is over. You can thank me later. Haha, kidding of course. All in all, I really enjoyed the swim-bike-run and would love to complete another one. I think doing a sprint tri for my first one was a good decision because I was challenged enough, but am still walking and lived to talk to about it! It was a half mile swim, 16 mile HILLY bike and 5K run. And, the best news is I finished in under two hours (I think around 1 hour, 53 minutes), which I did not expect to do at all. That's the nice thing about going into something with little expectations other than to finish the race--you often end up surprising yourself with what you can accomplish.

I urge anyone who is interested in trying out a triathlon to do so because they are a lot of fun. Since there are three different parts, at no point did I feel bored and lethargic. The transitions from swimming to biking to running were exciting and kept me feeling very energetic and looking forward to what's next. I also had my mom, aka my number one fan, on the sidelines the entire time snapping photos, screaming "Go Mere!" and telling me how proud of me she was. Gotta love my own personal cheering section! Here are some pictures, courtesy of Cindy Lou.

Right after the finish. Clearly very tired, thirsty and sweaty--making for a great photo opp.

Cruising in after 16 miles on the bike. My entire left butt cheek was cramped up and still hurts a little today.

Right before running into the water for the swim. The men started swimming during the first "wave," five minutes before the women. And yes, I did pass and beat several men. Girl power :)

In other news, my mom and I saw the movie Julie&Julia today. Aside from the fact that we had to sit in the fifth row because every senior citizen in Westchester was at that particular showing, I really enjoyed it. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about Julie, a disillusioned, 30-year-old New Yorker who cooks her way through Julia Child's cookbook and blogs about it in order to live a more purposeful life. One of the more interesting points made in the movie during a fight between Julie and her husband was how often times blogging can come across as very boastful. I immediately began to question my own blog and how I am portraying it. Since my blog is essentially a chronicle of my daily activities and life, I need to make sure I make it interesting without too much fluff about myself. However, I do not think I am alone in this. After all, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Gmail and more have made us digitally-driven consumers obsessed with keeping track of each other's lives. There is no denying that social networking sites have become a large part of our lives, if not daily routine, and without them we would most likely feel lost. The New York Times recently published an article about technology obsessions and how some families (mine included) have become so consumed by media and technology that they even text or call each other room to room. Liz, you are definitely guilty of calling me from another room in the house in such vicinity that I can probably hear you breathing. Here's the link for the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10morning.html?emc=eta1

This obviously has and will continue to be a hot topic of discussion, which I am currently too tired to go into detail with right now. I do, however, plan on bringing in a copy of the article for our first class discussion tomorrow, since I think it is very relevant. Tomorrow marks the first official day of school! Don't worry, my mom has already asked me if I want her to pack a lunch for me. I said only if she includes a note or poem of how proud of me she is :) Goodnight all, and here's to hoping no one suffers a case of the Mondays!