"Watch out for the donkeys!" something I never thought I'd hear during a tri!!

Today was my first open water triathlon, Tri it in Spanish (300m swim, 20k bike, 3.2k run)! I was SO nervous, I really thought several times in the last 24 hours that I would toss some cookies (but I did not). Here's how it happened:
I prepared for the swim by following my friend Eileen out to the waters edge, she insisted that we move toward the front (not way up front with the really fast people) but we decided after the last one that we didn't want to go to the back and short change ourselves. When it was my turn I was prepared, goggles ON! I jumped in and did what I know how to do, I swam. I started strong but when I got to the tunnel (yes tunnel!) I panicked a little and flipped over to do a backstroke. When I came out of the tunnel I flipped back over but only to find that I could not see through my goggles! Ugh. I attempted a small windshield wiper action in my goggles so that I could see the last buoy and it worked. I finished strong and felt really good about my swim.
The bike ride started out flat but then there was a steep incline (read BIG hill) and the road was very bumpy - with traffic, including a truck that did not want to pass me, finally did. I don't mind other bikes behind me but a truck is a little intimidating sitting on your tail. As I rounded the half way point of the bike I was feeling good and smiling, but not as much as I was 5 minutes later when I rounded a corner and heard these words from a police officer, "watch out for the donkeys!" Sure enough I saw a herd (4 or 5) donkeys prancing down the road. Initially they were on the other side until a bike scared them to my side. I was cautious but anxious to get by them, they were obviously scared and I didn't want to be in their way. After several laughter filled moments I was able to pedal like a mad woman past the herd. Wow! That entertained me all the way back to the steep incline where I did a "woo hoo" as I flew down - FUN!
The run! Oowei! The run was tough! As I've explained before there is nothing quite like running when your legs feel like spaghetti. Sadly I was not able to run like I would have liked until the end. For the record let me tell you that people standing around cheering is a must on these runs! As I got to the two mile mark there were a couple of people and they started cheering and telling me I was almost done, then there was a water guy, then another couple - I ran the remainder and finished running. It felt great until I stopped and then I was woozy. I got some orange juice.
For the record Eileen was third in her age group. I am so excited that I have this great friend that does these things with me - what a great treasure her friendship is to me. Eileen's daughter, Shelly got some pictures so hopefully I will be able to add those soon.