For the past month I have been training for my first sprint triathlon. This has been a goal of mine for a few years. I swam competitively in middle school and high school and have always enjoyed biking and running. The thought of combining all of these activities into one event always intrigued me. 

Last winter I signed up to do an indoor sprint triathlon and it got cancelled due to a blizzard. I was pretty bummed. I had been training for a few months and was not going to be able to put that training to use. In March, I found out my school was hosting a sprint triathlon called “Fruit at the Finish.” This sprint triathlon included an 800 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I was hesitant to sign up at first, but one of my friends encouraged me to do it with her. I figured, why not give it a shot. This has been something on my list of life goals and I felt like this would be a great time to do it! I had about a month to training and I got right to it after signing up. I enjoyed having a goal while training to keep me encouraged. 

The day finally came for the triathlon! I was so excited. My body felt ready to go. When I got to the event, I took my bike out of my car and noticed that my tire was very flat. It was so flat that it was starting to come off the rim. I was freaking out on the inside, but I tried to keep my cool. I found someone with a bike pump and we filled the tire with air. It seemed like the air was staying in the tires. My bike made it to the bike racks where the biking section started. I left it there, hoping the air would stay, and went off to sign in and get ready to swim. 

My swim felt amazing! It brought me back to my swim meet days. I had so much fun and felt so fast in the water. I changed after my swim and was ready to bike. I went out and saw that my bike tire was completely flat… All of that training and I was not going to be able to do the triathlon. I was so bummed, but once again I tried to keep my cool. I went back into the pool area to cheer on my friend as she did the swimming part. I decided to do the run anyway and make the most out of the race. 

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” 

I was really sad that after all of my training I couldn’t even complete the race. I tried my best to make the most out of the unfortunate event. I did my part in the swim and still got to participate in the run. When I got back to school, I biked on the stationary bike in the gym so I could sort of finish the race. From this event, I learned to be flexible. Sometimes the things that we work so hard for do not work out for us in the end. We have to make the most out the situations that life throws at us.

Looking forward to next year’s triathlon! I’ll be back with a functioning bike ready to crush my goals. 

• Grace