Now I Understand ...

I did it. Yep, that's right. The whole she-bang. The whole shootin' match. Swim. Bike. Run. I didn't drown or freak out in the water.

I didn't crash on the bike. (Jason Gilmore is to the left in the photo. Hi, Jason! And I believe it's Wendy Nevala in the background.)

And I finished the run, though not pain free and pretty slow. :-(

And I loved it. And I can't believe I'm saying that. :-)

The swim went mu-u-u-u-u-uch better than it did on Tuesday. Thank you Shaun for your pep talk at the Y on Wednesday morning. I let pretty much everyone else get going before I started swimming so as not to impede their progress. It didn't feel quite as cold as Tuesday, and I just felt overall more comfortable. Sighting is still a challenge, but I think I swam a little straighter tonight than I did then. After 400M of swimming, it was a run up the hill to the bikes for a ride of approximately 8 miles or so. That was the segment that I enjoyed the most and during which I felt the best and strongest. I had the proverbial "noodle legs" on the run, and my hip was bothering me although it seemed to loosen up as the run went on and I actually passed 2 people. It was such a good feeling to pull this all together!!

I heard that this was the biggest crowd they'd had yet for TNT. No doubt, the promise of cookies brought them out of the woodwork ...

... just kidding. :-)

But it was a very nice crowd (20-25?) on a very pleasant evening. Thank you Bill Nevala/WIN Multisports for the use of the bike racks. They made things much easier. Thank you TriRochester for organizing TNTs for the summer months. Great fun. I WILL BE BACK!!

I've got to give some kudos now. My oldest son Eric decided about 15 minutes before we left that he was going to participate as well. And he hadn't swam in several years. But we pulled together all the "stuff" required and he went for it. He said he was pretty wiped out after the swim. But I am soooo proud of him for doing it!

Here's a peek at my peas. They're doing very well.

I need to wrap this up now. More tomorrow ...