Teresa Moffatt's First Triathlon!!!

Teresa Moffatt is one of 12 women who make up the "RAISE THE HOPE" squad from Raise the Bar's Triathlon team. They are broken into 2 teams of 6 and are in a heated competition to see which group can out-health each other. Last weekend, 5 of the gals headed to TriFreak's Indoor Triathlon and Teresa submitted a great race report for any newbie or veteran to read. It's a story we can all appreciate. Congratulations Teresa and all the "RAISE THE HOPE" gals. Find out more about this program at www.weraisethebar.com/raisethehope.html.
"My First Time" - Teresa Moffatt

How many of you still remember your first? Was it special; was it memorable, or something you would rather forget? Ok - get your mind out of the gutters, I don't mean that first; I mean your first triathlon!

My first time was yesterday; April 22, 2007 at approximately 8:00AM.

Because it was held indoors at a local YMCA, I much less intimated than a 'real' outdoor triathlon, at least when I first signed up. I have trained for the last few months, and could absolutely not have done this without the help of our RTB swim clinics! A few days before I started to get very nervous, not because I didn't think I could finish, I really believed I could...but I wanted it to be a good event. I wanted to feel good and confident. I went through it over and over again in my head - trying to make sure I was mentally ready as well as physically ready. I kept thinking that since I was out of town the week before I was at a huge disadvantage, then I realized I was making excuses and decided to do it no matter what. I even stopped calling it a triathlon and started calling it a practice run - how can you possibly fail at a practice run?

The day before I had a little breakdown because my pool was closed on the 21st to lap swimmers, so no last swim for me. Then I ran all over Bonney Lake looking for a buoy and couldn't find a sports store to save my life, by the way if you are wondering, neither Target, Wallmart, or Fred Meyer carry them, I know because I checked them all that day! I finally decided I should go home and get some rest, not spend the whole day in panic mode, because after all I was indoors and really couldn't drown or get lost on the bike or run routes.
I managed to sleep well the night before and felt pretty good on the big day, my bike and gear were all packed and ready to go. I met our teammate Tina Marin there first and we were checking in when Elizabeth McCarty came in. Then we walk to the trainers with our bikes and that is when I saw it...a scale sitting right in front of the trainers. "Do I have to get on that thing?" I asked already looking around for the nearest exit. This was my worst nightmare coming true; no one told me they weigh you at these things...visions of Girl Scout camp when Danny Binner yelled my weight to everyone echoed in my brain. "Yes, we have to weigh you and your bike together in order to properly set up the bike trainers". I think the girl saw the panic in my face because she quickly added, "don't worry no one else will see or know, except the guy setting up the trainers". No big neon board, no P/A announcement, not in the results online, ok I guess I can handle that and I 'graciously'
stepped on the scale with my bike.

The swim was great, thanks to Elizabeth who lent me her buoy, I didn't have a care in the world and took a leisurely pace and hummed to myself the whole time. It flew by and I didn't really feel that tired, honestly it felt like a good warm up at my Tue/Thu swim clinic! Many many thanks to Patty and Rick for that!!!! On to the bike, I hopped up on my mountain bike and started to pedal like crazy, here is where my dreams of an 'easy' tri come to a screeching halt! I was facing a wall, pedaling and feeling like I wasn't going anywhere...for ever! Thanks to Luis Diaz for trying to help Tina and I find the right gears, we have a lot to learn! Needless to say I was very aware of all the shiny, pretty, road bikes surrounding me, while I pedaled away on my big blue Schwinn mountain bike! Just when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, Tina jumped off and was done, I still had almost two miles to go. Ok, everyone has smoked me on the bike; I can either get off and quit or start pedaling even faster and harder and get off and continue on to the run. I hunkered down and start pedaling as fast as I could, for the next several minutes...finally 9.3 clicked over and I was done! It really is true about the wobbly legs that I have heard so much about, I thought at first that my legs wouldn't hold me when I jumped off the bike. Trusty legs though, they didn't let me down. Then I took off for upstairs to the running track and started off on my 18 laps. Now I was giddy, so happy to be off the bike that I couldn't keep the smile off my face, I knew I had it now, even if I walked the whole time I didn't care, I knew I would finish! I did finish and even ran a few laps just to prove to myself that I could!
They don't have our official results posted yet, but I did it in approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. I had hoped to finish in less than 2 1/2 hours and I came in under that!

I am so happy I did it, now I have a great baseline and I know what to work on for the next one.
Thanks to Elizabeth, Jenn, Tina, Melissa and her wonderful family! It was a blast and a great first time!

Teresa Moffatt