Prior to that, triathlon had not even entered my mind so I had no idea what to expect going into my first event. So I began frantically searching the internet for hints, tips and course reviews; It was then I discovered my local running club Larkfield AC, I was a bit nervous when I first went along as I thought everyone would be elite and I'd embarress myself and get left for dust! Instead, I was welcomed to the group and on the first group run I was buddied up with a Lark running the same speed as me that knew the route so I wouldn't get lost. From there my running improved in leaps and bounds and feeling more confident I booked a ‘warm up’ race, I found a local Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5k Swim 40k Bike, 10k run) at Hever Castle September 2014 and entered.

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Hever Castle was my first ever triathlon and as I’d later find out a steep learning curve! I purchased a cheap-ish Halfords branded bike, cycling shoes to match, a wetsuit and began training. Come race day I felt very under prepared, nevertheless managed to settle when the gun went off and I pencil dived into the lake! It was a relatively stress free swim and when nearing the end of the bike course I began thinking ‘what’s all the fuss about’; I was soon to find out!! Hopping off the bike, I slipped on my running trainers and BANG, it felt as though my trainers had been lined with rocks! I knew then it was going to be a 10k battle to reach the finish. I stumbled across the finish line and my first thought was ‘time to get to work’.