This race sells out fast, and with good reason as I now know. It’s slickly organised by a really friendly bunch of triathletes and has some of the best marshals I’ve ever been cheered on by. To say I enjoyed every minute would be an understatement. I enjoyed my disappointingly slow swim. I enjoyed running up a hill twice. And it appears I enjoyed the bike leg so much that I did 10 laps instead of the suggested 9.

I signed up for the race a few months ago. You have to be quick to do this – it sold out in about 24 hours. I entered myself and Phil: it would be his first ever triathlon and my first pool-based tri. We entered the sprint distance and, being based at Crystal Palace’s 50m pool, the swim was the full 750m sprint distance (sometimes this gets shortened to 400m for pool-based tris). On Sunday morning we took our bikes on the train and headed for south London for our 9:30ish start times.

The pool swim had a staggered start with faster swimmers going off first and a minute between each starter. You’d swim up and down one lane before dipping under the lane rope and doing the same in the next. No need to count lengths here, by the time you’ve made it to the last lane you’ve just got 50m to do before your swim is over. I’ve been having swim lessons again for the past few weeks and I was hopeful that I’d get a snazzy time on this leg. But I’d been a bit too optimistic when entering, seeded myself too early and then proceeded to get overtaken on the first four lengths.

Each time I’d get a tap on my foot I’d squeeze myself against the lane rope to let the swimmer behind pass, one time getting too close and whacking my finger on the lane divider in the process – I honestly thought I’d broken it it hurt so much. I paused at the end of my laps to let people pass but then failed to make the most of the kick off the wall.

I could see Phil lining up for his start as I swam along and I gave him a wave over my shoulder. I could also see the clock on the wall that confirmed I wasn’t going particularly fast. I shrugged (if it’s possible to do that while swimming) but carried on. That morning, before leaving the house I had a brief moment of ‘I don’t want to do this’. But I thought about what  Katie would say to me, and what we’ve written in Tricurious: I was going to spend the morning doing three things that I enjoy in quick succession. It’s a non-intimidating way of looking at triathlon and one that I embraced throughout the race.

Once out of the pool I ran towards the transition and on my way saw  Hannah who I know through Twitter. She gave me a cheer as she made her way to check-in her bike for what would be her first ever triathlon.

The bike course isn’t quick. At least I knew it wouldn’t be for me. The only cycling I’ve done for the past nine months is to and from work in my trainers. I had forgotten how to use my cleats and almost fell off my bike before I’d even started. The bike course goes immediately up a hill, then round a corner, through a chicane and down a hill, and repeat nine times. I’d looked at people putting nine bits of tape on their handle bars in transition and thought to myself: ‘I can count up to nine without tape. No problem.’ It appears I can’t.

The cycle isn’t my favourite part of triathlons. I’m not very fast at it, I’m not very good at hills and it’s, proportionally, the longest bit of the race. But as I went round and round the course, each time getting a bit better at going up the hill and a bit braver on the decent, I was genuinely smiling. I smiled at the spectators out in the sun cheering everyone on. I smiled when the uphill became a little like the Tour de France as five riders all tried to overtake each other and a woman shook a cow bell. And I smiled when Phil overtook me and sped off into the distance. When I looked down as my watch as I pulled into transition and saw that my mileage equated to doing 10 laps instead of nine, I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at that too.

Phil’s bike was already racked as I parked mine up and ran out onto the run. I headed straight back up the hill where a marshal cheered me on by name. I later realised that the marshals all had a paper list of competitors and would look you up as you ran towards them to give you a cheer. they really were brilliant.

My legs ached from six hours of doing running drills at my coaching assessment the day before, but it was 5k. I could plod on for 5k. I ran along the grass verge as riders from later waves cycled past. I picked out a few runners that I’d try to overtake on the two laps, giving them (hopefully) encouragement as I went. When I got onto the second lap I chatted to a woman called Harriet who was doing her first race in seven years. She was on her first lap and she told me to speed up – I was nearly there. I told her I’d be waiting at the finish to give her a cheer.

After two laps you pull into Crystal Palace stadium for one and a half laps of the track. I saw Phil by the finish, I ran a bit faster and soon I was finished too.

Times (if that’s your thing): 1:55. Swim: 21:13; Bike 1:00:49; Run 26:39.  Fun had: 10/10.

I paid for my own place at Crystal Palace Triathlon. If you want to do it next year (and I think you should) you’ll need to be quick to register.