My Triathlon.
On Sunday July 25, I completed my first triathlon. I didn't come in last.
There were several lessons I picked up along the route. The "route" was a 700 meter swim, a seven mile Mountainous bike ride and a three mile mountain trail run. The Swim was in a frigid mountain lake, the bike was 5 steep miles uphill and 2 really steep and rocky miles downhill on a narrow track and the run was a rocky and root riddled dust trail through the mountain forest.
I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I actually ENJOYED every MINUTE of it.
You see, I was advised to simply "compete to complete" by a friend of mine who regularly does "REAL" triathlons. (I did the "short course" which is about half the distances.)
Compete to complete puts things into perspective. It challenged me to concentrate on one stroke at a time in the lake, one roll of the pedal at a time up the mountain on my bike and one foot in front of the other on the run. It was ME and it was 100% MY time. I loved it.
I noted that although there was only one official "winner", there were no losers. I noted that each time I passed someone or someone passed me on the trail we encouraged each other. "Good job! or "You got this!" or "Atta kid!" was sincere and meaningful on my personal journey.
When it was done, I felt great. I KNOW I could have dug in an trimmed at least 8-10 minutes off of my time...but I ENJOYED every minute of it. Life can be like that.
Cheers,
Chad
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Chad Schauers
Montana Mortgage Lender, Bozeman, Montana
Personal Cell: 406 799 8613
Personal Email: metchad@gmail.com
