Not to TooT my own horn or anything but...... TOOT TOOT!

It's OVER, Finished, Fin, Finito, Done with,.....and all I have to say is thank you to my lucky stars I am alive. (And I will explain to you why I am happy to be Alive.)
So most of you know this weekend was a big weekend for Jimmy and me. We have been training for this day for a couple of months now. I can't say that the training prepared me for what I was going to expect in the race, but it did make me feel more comfortable in knowing that I have done these three things before individually, and I survived. There were alot of nerves leading up to this day. Most of them came out last night and prevented me from getting a good nights rest. (As to be expected)Also to make matters worse, I got SICK! I couldn't breath and was coughing all night with a bad sore throat. Perfect for racing, don't ya think?

And so now I will give you a little run down of how our day went:

5:00 am- Jimmy and I get out of bed...( I would say woke up, but we were not even sleeping) I felt horrible.. and so the morning went on...
6:00 am- Jimmy and I show up at NorthShore Park. We set up at our bikes, and lay out everything so that we don't forget anything thing during that crazy transition time.
Early morning, don't we look nervous?
Yep 909!
Sexy Leg Hair!

6:45 am- We have a long wait outside the bathrooms
6:50 am- Everyone gets ready for the first wave/group to leave
7:00 am- The horn blows and they are off into the water.
7:15 am- Jimmys wave takes off in to the water.
7:30 am- Mckenzie's waves leaves
7:36 am- All by my lonesome I leave with my wave/group. We were the last to leave.

THE SWIM- Jimmy and Mckenzie did great of course. I on the other hand was dealing with the fact that I couldn't breath. Not just because we were in the water, but also because I REALLY couldn't breath. I started to panic, I started to fear that I would drown or that I was going to have to give up. My internal dialog was this: "mandy if you give up, I am going to be so mad at you. And if you drown you might not be noticed.(there was so many people out there) So if you give up now it will be pointless. Just stay calm, go at your own pace." So I pushed forward. I listened to myself. As I was heading for the dock, where we were to run to our bikes, my fears were suddenly rocked. As I was coming out from the water I was shocked and horrified to see a lifeless body on the side of the dock. Rescue workers were working hard to save this life. They were doing chest compressions until the paramedics arrived. To me it looked like a woman I had seen earlier. But later I had heard that a man had had a heart attack in the water and soon then after lost his life. Hence the remark I made up at the top about being happy to be alive. I am still having a hard time with the images that I sadly had to see today.
If you look close you can see the course we swam. Its just one big triangle.

The Bike- After the swim, with my head still reeling with what had just taken place,and still the race went on. I headed for my bike and took off. The bike was a tad easier, only because I knew I was not going to get kicked in the face by flailing arms and legs. It was still hard, with the wind blowing and knowing that I was one of the last few people out there still truckin along. Each new street was a mile stone for me. It meant that I was that much closer to coming to the end. Even though I still couldn't breath, I kept my legs moving forward and headed for the transition area, ONLY to begin...

The Run- "Why do people do this? They must all be crazy" My internal dialog was talking to me again. It does that when you have no one around you. Jimmy and Mckenzie were done of course! I still had a 3.1 mile run ahead of me. My legs were like lead. They did not want to move forward anymore. My lungs (what I had left of them) were screaming at me to stop! I still could not breath and I needed water bad! I thought to myself " no one will know if I just walk." But then I realized the faster I went, the faster I was going to make it to the finish line. So yet again I pushed forward. There were volunteers every couple of yards throughout the whole course and they would give me boost of confidence in there hoot and hollers. I thank each and everyone of them for every clap and holler they could expense for me. It really did help the pychy. And then there it was......(angels singing and bright lights) THE FINISH LINE!!!! I knew I had done it. I had done everything I said I was going to do. I was FINISHING! Up a head I saw a great face...it was Mckenzie coming to run with me into the finish line. (Something you might not know but, Mckenzie was great for me. When we would run she would always push me harder then I thought I could go) And there she was running next to me telling me to push and to sprint it in hard. Thanks to the Pews, the Harveys and My Husband all cheering me on, I ran across the finish line on cloud nine.
If you look close you can see that both my feet are off the ground. LOOK IM FLYIN!
I can taste it!
YAY!!
We are Done! And we still have smiles!

** A Special Tribute **
I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to some great people. The Griffins and the Harveys! If it weren't for them, Jimmy and I would not have been able to participate. Thank you for watching the girls on such short notice. You guys are awesome!!