Triathlon letter

Dear Selina


Wow. I mean, just wow. I almost wish I could end this letter here, but I haven't written about efforts or commitments or anything yet, so I won't.


The triathlon was just too amazing in a lot of ways. I chose the hardest options, and I immediately knew that on the day I'd be cursing myself and thinking Why on earth did I do that?! I think I know myself in those kinds of situations too well, because the day of the triathlon came and I was actually thinking that. 


Before the actual triathlon, I carbohydrate loaded, like we'd all learned about in Science. Or at least, I think I did. I ate a lot of rice, and I'm pretty sure that counts. 
And of course, there was all the Tuesday, Thursday and Friday cycles/runs/general triathlon training. All of that made me the fittest I've probably ever been in my whole life, and it was confirmed when I beat my own record for the beep test (8.5). 


The actual day was quite tense at the start. A lot of people (or maybe it was just me?) were having a sort of private breakdown, and half-deciding that they would just go easy on the run or swim or cycle. I was pretty happy that it was a cold day because in my opinion, the only thing worse than a triathlon in freezing cold weather is a triathlon in boiling hot weather. I think that we were all pretty lucky in that aspect... until, of course, it started pouring. But that was later.


I loved the way that once groups began to get into the pool, everyone would cheer and encourage the swimmers just as much as they cheered at the end. I was in Blue group, and we were the second last to go. To put it nicely, I'm not very good at swimming, but I completed 8 laps just like everyone else. I'm glad that I didn't injure my shoulder like some other unlucky Year 9s. 
The cycling felt like torture when I was actually doing it, but now that I think about it, it felt okay. However, I know that if one of the teachers were to order me to jump onto my bike and ride another 16 laps around the oval, I'd be cursing myself again for ever thinking that it was okay. 
By the time I got to running, I was again, cursing myself for even considering the 2.8 km option, but oh well. 
At the very end, I felt half-dead, but at least I felt some sort of achievement! An excellent achievement for every single Year 9, if I may say so. 


From Selina :)