I've been sucked into the triathlon world

My friend Tessa has done several triathlons, and when I told her I was doing the one this past weekend she said, "You'll love it. They're so addicting." One of the husband's friends (who has done several Ironman competitions) had said the same thing. I didn't believe it. I mean, doing a swim, bike, and run all in one fell swoop would be addicting? But, she was right. Especially since I didn't hit my time goal, I have to do more to get a better time. This week alone I've run a 5K four minutes faster than my one at the tri, and my 400m swim at the pool today took me around nine minutes instead of the 11 it took me on race day. Le sigh. So I know I can do it. If you remember, my big bike hindrance was my big bike. Haha...see what I did there? Well that problem has been solved. Not only have I been sucked into the world of triathlons, I've been sucked into the world of the expensive gear that goes with them. I knew I wanted a better bike because I've really been enjoying the biking aspect of training, then after I liked doing the tri I definitely knew I wanted a better bike. The husband and I had been keeping an eye on Craigslist for deals and found one that looked good. It was a little more money than I initially wanted to spend, but thankfully the husband is a good negotiator and talked the price down $100 from what she had been asking. I start to feel lightheaded if I think about all the money I spent yesterday on the bike, then cycling shoes (which were on sale and a smokin' deal at least), as well as pedals. I could have bought a set of really awesome cookware or an entire new wardrobe basically for what I spent on those three things. Ouch. But, my bike is gorgeous and it's fast and it's sleek, so it's worth it. The lady who was selling it estimated there were maybe only 60 miles on it total. She'd bought it from a woman whose husband had bought it for her, but then she ended up having babies back to back and sold it since she didn't know when she'd use it. Then it turned out to be too big for the lady I bought it from. There were a few adjustments we needed to make to it, but they were all pretty minor. I'm really happy with it. I took it for a quick spin around my neighborhood yesterday and loved it, although riding on the aero bars will take some getting used to. Want to see my new toy?