In the shadow of His wings: Tri-Latta Triathlon

Today was my 2nd and bigger triathlon: 1/2 mile open water swim, 17 mile ride, 3 mile run. I had three specific goals: to complete the swim in 20 minutes(I'm slow), to run a 10 minute mile even after the swim and ride, and to have a finish time of right around 2 hrs. It's been rather rainy here the last few days, and I was rather disconcerted at all of the mud in the transition areas and on the trail run, and had no idea how that would effect my time goals.

The swim didn't feel so good to me, because I'd never done an open water swim before, where you can't see when you're swimming and people are kicking you and swimming over or super close to you. I intentionally stayed to the back of the group when they all took off, which was a bit of a mistake if you want to be competitive. I was safer there, but much slower. Happily, though my swim time was quite slow, it was 20:16, which was close enough to my goal for me. :-D Then I was out of the water, running up a muddy hill to jump on my bike for the 17 mile ride. That portion was just lovely. It was a nice course and I had a relaxed ride. I probably should've pushed a good bit more in that(but was trying to save for the run), because by the time it was over, I realized I still had plenty of energy left in my tank.I finished that section in 55 minutes, putting me at 2nd place in my category for the bike ride. Then off the bike and on to the muddy, hilly trail run. It wasn't my favorite run ever, but I kept going and finished in 30 minutes and a few seconds. And making it even better? I completed the entire thing in 1 hr. and 52 minutes, putting me in 7th place in the Novice category and meeting all three of my goals! I definitely enjoyed this one a lot more than my first one, even though it was longer. I've worked really hard on pacing and endurance from the triathlon in March until now, and it was so encouraging to see that work pay off. It was also encouraging to get to the end and realize I probably could've given a bit more. All in all, an excellent day!