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On Saturday, I did my first triathlon. I didn't win. I wasn't last, either, but three of the people I beat were: 74-years-old, 9-years-old, and recovering from a kidney transplant. Literally, that's what the announcer said about each of them as they crossed the finish line.
The swim killed me. And, because Tiffany is my caring, wonderful, supportive girlfriend and would never abandon me in search of a medal, it killed her too. I didn't like not being able to see more than a few inches in front of me in the lake or having bodies splashing all around me. With no black line at the bottom of a pool to follow, I had to stop every few strokes and make sure I wasn't swimming in the total opposite direction.
I thought I would be fine. In fact, I was so confident as we waded into the lake (which at 70 degrees was warmer than the 50 degree air temperature) that I reassured a girl who looked more nervous than me.
"You'll be fine," I soothed before lowering my body into the muck and beginning my freestyle stroke in water so shallow I was pulling up algae.
In fact, she was fine. She left me in her wake, plodding along steadily while I alternated between freestyle, treading water, breast stroke and willing the lifeguards away from my vicinity. (Despite my glacial pace, I did not need to be rescued. But they were watching me closely.)
Anyway, I called my grandmother later that day to tell her I'd finished.
"Congratulations!" she cried into the phone.
"I didn't win, Nana," I said.
"But you finished!"
Aren't Nanas wonderful?
Rebequita,felicitaciones to you and Tiffanita. It is not who finishes first or last. You challenged yourself to do it. At the begining you thought you could'nt do it, and now you have proven to yourself that indeed you were able to do it. One can do anything you want, as long as there is a will there is always a way. I am proud of Tiff too, yes maybe she could have finish 3 competitors before you, but she did the right thing. She stayed next to you to encourage you. Two wonderful ladies
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