AmberPdidit: Golden 30

For the last four years I have done the B-fit B-day Challenge. I found it when I did Team in Training for my first triathlon and was scouring the internets for info about my new exciting hobby.

I really loved it. I sort of hate my birthday. Not for getting older reasons but because I am not great at being the center of attention and, honestly, ever since my older cousin died at 20 I have a really strong reaction to getting older. In the five years it took for me to catch up to her it was a sadness but in the ten years after that it became a true appreciation for each day. Anyhow, enough with the heavy reasoning, the bottom line is that I loved it. It was fun, proved to me that I am strong and it is a relatively private celebration.

27 was my first and very special. My mom and I started at midnight on my birthday and finished in the wee hours of the morning.

28 was more low key and my mom and I started the trend of swimming in the evening before and then me finishing up later. This year I was newly in love and did a worse job blogging about it; it was merely a footnote.

29 was the most hasty. The weather sucked and I was to go out of town for my birthday. I ran, swam and (painfully on a stationary) biked. My efforts for the challenge sucked but it was a most wonderful b-day.

This year I really debated doing it at all. I haven’t been doing triathlon at all and I am now kind of afraid of my bike. I have though been walking and running a lot and I’ve swum a time or two. Plus, I really love this method of celebrating my b-day (see above) and 30 is a biggie.

So I did it. And I was going for gold.

3000yd swim, 30mile bike, 10mile run- in 24hrs

My mom has been sick so she couldn’t count my laps but M gallantly stepped in to help. I was most nervous about the swim since this is the area that does the biggest jump when you hit a decade marker. 3000yd=1.7mi. Which is freaking far.

This went relatively well though. The first 500 flew by, the next felt good. Then the next two 500yds felt LONG. But once I was over 2000yd I felt pretty good that I’d finish. I also held a surprisingly steady pace of about 60s/50yd. Not terribly fast but honestly better than I expected for such a long swim.

With the swim behind me, I felt good about the rest of the challenge.

I kept the bike ride entirely to a city trail because of my new fear of biking. I FULLY lucked out and got a beautiful day. The ride was really awesome other than the fact that my rear derailleur was completely shot (ride much, Amber?) so I was pretty much stuck in gear. I was more than a bit saddle sore at the end but VERY glad to be done.

Before the run M took me to lunch and then I headed out from Bellevue to run to Redmond. It was a great run. Since I’ve been walking so much I was nervous how I’d do with running but it went really well.

I LOVE the park near us since I was able to get 3 miles in by passing through the park and back. My biggest mistake though was leaving the giant hill up to our house for last. But I made it and was surprised by a finish line party replete with flowers and balloons and gifts.