Tri, tri again

In twenty-five days, I am going to run that triathlon I mentioned several months ago. (It's actually a sprint triathlon - 400m of swimming, 8.5 miles of biking, and 3 miles of running - which, I know, isn't nearly as impressive as an Olympic triathlon. But considering that less than a year ago, my exercise routine consisted of me getting out of bed before 7am, I'm feeling okay about it.) I'm 22% nervous, 77% excited, and 1% cocky, because it's entirely possible that the fates could smile down upon me and I may not come in dead last.

When I first decided to do this thing, the only thought in my head was: this is going to be hard, but I want to do it, if only to tell people that I've done it. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would end up having fun! Here are just a few of the things I've discovered while training for a sprint triathlon:

• I repeatedly lose track of the lap number I'm on while swimming because I get preoccupied thinking about what it would be like to be a mermaid. (How cool would that be?)
• Training takes a great deal of time. Cleaning, scrapbooking, and blogging have become infrequent and irregular (much like another certain monthly-ish event in my life - but that's neither here nor there). On the plus side, there's less time for me to obsess over housecleaning.
• I'm hungry a lot. Ergo, I get to eat frequently.
• I thought I would automatically turn into one of those people who goes out running because they - gasp! - enjoy it. In truth, it took me a good ten weeks to realize that runners aren't total morons. It is kind of fun, after all.
• Wednesdays are the best day of the week, hands down. I go swimming in the morning and when I get home, there's a big plate of ham and potatoes with an over-easy egg on top smiling up at me. My husband is the best husband there's ever been. Ever.
• When you're listening to The Hunger Games on your iPod while biking down the street and you say, out loud, "Katniss, you twit, he loves you!" people will give you funny looks. (Haven't read this book yet? Do it and thank me later.)

Anyway, I hope these next few weeks go well. Then maybe when I post about my experience, you'll see a picture like this:



instead of like this:




Wish me luck!