What a few couple of days it’s been!
I left off on Tuesday nervous about my open-water swim. Let’s start there (I know my reader(s) want to hear about the Backstreet Boys but hold your horses!)
So the open water clinic started at 6:00 but registration started at 5:30. I tried putting on my wetsuit (that I bought from a garage sale for $5) in the bathroom at work but that was a bad idea for so many reasons. First, it was embarrassing – especially the part where I couldn’t get it on because it’s old and I didn’t use any lubricant. Second, did I really think I was going to ride my bike in the wetsuit? That would have been horrible. Third, did I want to carry home a wet wetsuit when they had rentals available? No, but I also didn’t want to get stuck not being able to rent one because of the limited supply! Luckily all of my fears subsided when I arrived at the set up and easily rented a wet suit. They gave me a sleeveless, which was awesome, and one made for swimming, which my garage sale one was not. The only thing they didn’t do was spray me with olive oil (for real) to help slip it on. So I was almost back to square one – embarrassingly pulling it on on the broken-glass-filled-grass of Oak Street beach.
Pre-clinic selfie
Once I got the wet suit and red cap (for clinic-goers) on I listened up for where to go to learn all the first-time-triathlon goodies. I met up with two randos who were also doing this for the first time and when they split us up into comfort levels one of the girls and I decided to go with the “babies” meaning the most basic beginners. I consider myself a good swimmer but I wanted all the basics since I’m kinda flying by the seat of my pants, here. Turns out this was a good choice because the first thing the coaches taught us was the best way to put on our ugly little swim caps. No one has ever actually showed me before which makes for a lot of awkward moments in the gym locker room. We also got to hear a lot of really dumb and basic questions being answered which was not only helpful, but reassuring. At least I’m not the only one without a clue!
We ended up not swimming very much because of all of the techniques and questions being discussed, which was fine by me, and when it was 7:15 I zipped out of the water, struggled out of my wetsuit and rode my bike home. To be honest that swim to bike transition was the first “brick” I’ve ever practiced and it wasn’t a real practice because in between I had to pack my backpack, rinse and return the wetsuit.
That night my friends Blair and Walann came over to watch part II of the season finale of the Bachelorette. I know it’s crazy, but I love that show. I find it so relatable and not relatable at the same time, it’s just great. Plus, Blair brought over red wine and chocolate ice cream, so what’s not to love?
On Wednesday I took the day off and enjoyed one of the rare sunny, hot (82 degrees+) days at Magic Waters with my neighbors. We had a blast! We were at the park for seven hours and they flew by! Look at this huge drop slide we went on!
Magic Waters Double Dare Drop
Once I got home I went to see a bike I’ve been emailing back and forth about from Craigslist. I’m so torn because it might just be a perfect fit but I don’t know since I’m so inexperienced with road bikes. Boo! I’m hoping to do some bike research between now and Saturday and perhaps go buy it Saturday morning before the Pleasant Prarie adventure. Don’t worry, though, I won’t be using it for the race!
Gerb's Blurbs 
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