On My First Triathlon

Over a year ago, I bet Kristina that if she read The Brothers Karamazov, that I would run a triathlon.  Naturally, I assumed this meant I would never run a triathlon.  She finished it in 6 weeks.

Yesterday, I finally fulfilled my end of the bargain.  As I ran the TryByKnight Sprint Triathlon at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA.

My swim featured an embarrassing amount of backstroke, my biking had more than its fair share of coasting and fidgeting with the gears, and my 5k was scarcely better than a light jog (though it was a consistent jog, no walking). I was fat, slow, tired, and hangry, and hated almost every minute of it.

Almost.

Because when I got that runner's high almost in spite of myself, I caught a glimmer of why so many people spend so much of their precious time and hard earned money for the privelege to run themselves ragged; as for myself, I felt the sense of accomplishment that comes of doing something I'm not naturally good at; and what's more, no matter if they take everything else from me, I can now always say: I am a triathlete.