Most people say that the “3rd time is a charm”, well I say “2nd time is a charm”. Tuesday night I tackled another sprint triathlon and have to say that it was way better than my first triathlon just 3 weeks earlier.

TriAllegan capped off the entries at 250 racers, which meant that the race was smaller and a little more relaxed. Relaxed definitely does not mean that the competition was not high. I am still new to the sport and don’t consider myself a triathlete (yet), but I am finding the competition of knowing other racers age (which is written on their legs) becomes a fun game to play through out the race. I always seem to be trying to pass racers that are older than me. I of course also get passed by many racers, but it is fun to see how many racers I can “pick off”.

Waiting for my heat to start is always the most nerve-racking part of the whole triathlon thing.

After my open water swim at Grand Haven Tri, I was nervous how the swim would go. To my own surprise the swim went down without a hitch. The water was 80 degrees, there was no current or wake. I felt comfortable in the water and trusted that if I swam with regular strokes and breathing the swim would go just fine.

I definitely need to practice running more in sand

I exited the water and struggled to run up the hill to the transition, but once in the transition I knew I could finish the race with out a problem. The first 8 miles of the bike where straight  into the wind with some small rolling hills. With a 19mph pace, I was able to pass a large majority of the women that finished the swim before me. The 2nd part of the bike was a slight downhill with a good tale wind, that helped push me to the transition area finishing the bike portion in under 45 minutes.

It was no surprise to me that as soon as I started running the 5k my heart rate would sky-rocket. I don’t know why, but every time I go from biking to running my heart does not know what just happened to itself. Practicing this transition will be key to my continued triathlon training.

I finished the race and still felt great. I guess I should have pushed it a little harder. After getting some fluids in my body I ventured over to the time board that had just been updated. To my surprise my name was 2nd in my age group. I had never seen my name that close to the top of the finisher lists! I was so excited!

My age group award was a nice medal with the date and place engraved on the back of it. I can’t wait to do TriAllegan again next year!

I am already ready to sign up for another triathlon for this season. I have a few that I am deciding between right now, but have no doubt that I will be choosing one very soon to do.