Not to keep you waiting any longer, I made it to the finish line in my first triathlon! The play by play is coming, but first I just have to say that it was one of the coolest things I have done in my life. That was the first time I competed in anything individually other then skiing, and I loved it.

The nerves were running on the morning of the race as I woke up and looked out my tent door to the swimming portion of the course. It sure did look long. It was a very different type of nervous than my skiing nerves. This was more like nerves of the complete unknown, where in skiing at least I know what I am getting into. But to say the least, I was really excited and could not wait for my time to start. I took a small practice swim before, which helped calm some nerves and remind me that I could stay on the surface of the water. The men took off 5 minutes before the ladies and watching them really got me fired up to go. Then when it was my turn, I strategically placed myself on the outside of everyone due to the fear of getting swam over.

The count down and the whistle came and I was off, probably a little too energized and fast. I was doing great for the first 100 meters or so, avoiding getting trampled over and head pushed under like I had envisioned, when I looked up to make sure I was going in the right direction. Surprise, surprise, I was going in the right direction, but the brief pause in my breathing pattern messed everything up. The race was at 7,800 feet, and for some reason, I was not able to calm my breathing back down enough to continue putting my head in the water. So I rolled over and tried to back stroke to calm myself down. When I was about half way done with the swim, I realized I was not going to be able to calm down and decided to give everything I had on the backstroke where I could at least continue breathing! It may have been the fastest (or slowest) back stroke ever, but unfortunately I zigged and zagged and swam probably twice the distance I had to, but I made it to the end of the swim and to my surprise ran out of the water with a guy who had started 5 minutes before us. I knew my swimming portion was not so stellar, but I was feeling really good about making it and ready for what was ahead.

In my first transition ever, I fell trying to get my wetsuit off, and probably took way too much time trying to tie my laces, but I hopped on the bike and felt as at home as ever. A lot of my training this summer has been on my bike, so this was my strong point. I passed two people just getting out of the transition area, and knowing this is where I had to make everything up, I charged hard. I kept looking for the next person ahead and loved the feeling of passing them and knowing I was making up time. Of course, I think I could have used a few more miles on the bike to continue making up for my less then stellar swim, but it ended too quickly and before I knew it my running shoes were on.

The run started on this gnarly uphill, which just about did me in, but I had to keep going for all the kids that I was raising money for. Mentally the swim was the toughest, but physically the run got the best of me. I pushed really hard though and held the spot I had earned on the bike. The finish line was very welcome at this point, and I cannot explain the feeling of crossing it! It felt so good.

I finished 4th in the 20-29 age group out of 30 people, and won the bike portion, which was much better than I had been expecting. So I was very happy with not only the experience, but the result as well. I definitely plan on doing this again; only I might try to learn to swim a little better! It is just hard to find the time to do everything and still maximize my training for skiing.

It is not too late to donate if you would still like to. Please go to StaceyCook.net. Thanks so much for everyone’s support throughout this whole experience.

STACEY COOK is an elite member of the U.S. Ski Team’s alpine skiing program. She competed in the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy and was a member of the 2007 World Championships Team... {more»}