I Can Do Hard Things...

Saturday I participated in a unique triathlon, the Headwaters Adventure Race. In place of the traditional swimming, we kayaked! It had been advertised on Facebook and thought "what the heck, that sounds like fun".  It was! I loaded up my kayak (which is still a challenge) and bicycle and headed out at 6am.

The first leg was running, which is my usual go-to for cardio. I was excited about my finish time of 20:57 for two miles. Still working towards a 10 minute mile, but making progress.

Next up was the cycling. That proved to be more challenging. MUCH more challenging. There were A LOT of hills and 10 miles a looong way on a bicyle. HaHa!

At about mile 3, as I began to push my bike up a hill to allow my heart rate to come down and catch my breath, I wondered how I was going to ever make it. Closing in on mile 7 I actually said to myself "Yes! You CAN do hard things"!

The cycling was the biggest challenge for me. The hills and being on the road, I'm used to the local bike trail. It was such a beautiful ride though and I felt very comfortable on the country roads. Only one part was on a busy highway and it had a wide burm. I did my best to get a little video to show the scenery, a GoPro might be a good investment LOL.

The final leg was kayaking down the Upper Cuyahoga River for 5 miles. Oh how I wish I could have taken some pictures. It was beautiful! It twists and turns and was so serene with the singing birds.

I was calculating how long I thought it would take me and figured about 2 and a half hours. But, being my first time I told myself if I could finish under 3 hours I would be satisfied. My overall completion time was 2 hours, 37 minutes and 58 seconds!! I am so proud of myself and will be doing this next year! Perhaps I can get my time under 2:30!