So I did my first and probably only Sprint Triathlon yesterday at the Grand Rapids Tri. I've been pool swimming for about 1.5 years, decided to try and do one, and Tracy and Lucy suggested this one as a good beginner one. Lucy had signed up for the Olympic distance. Looking back, I probably should have started with a Super Sprint like a normal person would. Anyway, only started some open water swims at Ohio St. beach maybe 3 weeks ago. I was using probably the cheapest wetsuit I could find on Amazon (so definitely not an expensive tri specific or open water specific wetsuit, and it was a full suit, arms and legs). Anyway, never did complete a full 750m open water swim in training, which was bad. I did a couple mock tri trainings, once in the pool, and at least was able to complete it all. But still I was pretty scared of the swim part. And rightly so. We went over on Saturday, did packet pickup, got a bike cable lock (because I forgot to bring one), had dinner. Up early on Sunday, nervous. Kelley and Hudson came and watched, along with Tracy and Jackson. Watched Lucy do her swim. Then it was my turn. And I did horribly at it. Had to take multiple breaks with lifeguard floaties. Could only do 50m or so freestyle before having to stop, kick on my back, mostly made it through by doing breaststroke. Never could seem to catch my breath. I wonder how much of that was poor training vs. bad wetsuit. And water was around 72, so I probably could have tried without a wetsuit, but I have no idea if I could have made it that far or not. Oh, and forgot to start the Multisport workout on my watch until my first rest on the swim, so missed the first part of my swim. Eventually got out. Thought it would be 30 min, but actually somehow managed to do it in 22 min. I did just walk the 750m to transition, and walked the bike out. Biking was definitely easier. Managed that in 47 min. Fairly smooth going there. Then had to finish with the run. I'm guessing that was more like a 50/50 jog/walk for me. Hudson and Jackson ran with me for the last 1km or so. That was 36 min. Survived, so happy I did that. Also never planning on doing that again. So tired. Overall finished in 2:01:41. If I had known how close I was, I would have pushed during the run to get under 2 hours. Overall 342/378, Male 202/218, Age Group (45-49) 18/18. Lucy on the other hand? Finished her Olympic in under 3 hours at 2:55:42, Overall 92/246, Female 17/91, Age Group (19 and under) 1/3. She got a medal. Finished her swim, twice as far as mine, in 24 min. Anyway, now that I've got that under my belt, not sure what I'm going to do. I'll keep up the swimming. Probably keep up the biking. Might as well keep up the running too. At least while the weather's nice. Might even do some open water swimming. I do want to get better at that, but without the wetsuit, and probably only when it's calm out on Lake Michigan. Never actually had doing a triathlon on my bucket list, but hey, at least I can say I survived.