I did it! I completed my one and only race for the season... normally by this time in the year I'm 3-5 events deep into my season (a mix of tris, road races, duathlons, cycling events, etc). Then again, I'm normally not pregnant, either :) I hemmed and hawed about participating today. I slept poorly, woke up at 5 thinking "This is stupid. I'm nuts. What am I DOING?" I mean, I've been working out consistently the whole time, but not super hard core.

It was so worth it to be out there today.

The swim wasn't bad, I felt strong once I warmed up. My good friend Amy and I were on the same pace and swam parallel to each other the whole time. Walked the 1/4 mile rocky hill to transition, got my gear off/on and was out on the bike. Felt normal t1 weirdness for the first 3ish miles, then got into my groove and just went with it. It was hard to turn off the competitive instinct. I kept getting passed. I just had to breath, take it in, let it go, and keep moving forward. Got into transition, changed shoes, and shuffled out. t2 run always feels super strange for the first mile for me. I ended up tripping and rolling my ankle (swollen and hurts now, but didn't feel it at the time) and felt out of sorts for several yards after the spill. By the turn around I felt really in synch with myself and my pace...

I wore a "Baby on Board" sign pinned to my back for the bike and the run. The response on the bike was more from men, then out on the run tons of women would run past and yell "way to go!" "are you really pregnant??" and the like. I was slower than a tortoise but I shuffled along the whole run - only walking through the aid stations. (The distances were a 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile hilly cycling course, 5 mile run). The run got uncomfortable - baby was right on the bladder and I started to feel rather strange around mile 3.5. I kept Guing and drinking and just kept moving forward. By the time I got to the finish chute, people were yelling "go pregnant lady! bring it in!" I crossed the line and was so overcome with emotion I started crying.

I can't even describe what if felt like... but I think that was the best race I've ever done. :)