The Most Expensive Triathlon

A couple of weeks ago I participated in my first Sprint distance triathlon. Previously I had only done Olympic distance (roughly twice the length of the sprint distance). I was excited to be more competitive as my focus wouldn't be solely on finishing the race. I was incredibly pleased with how I did and have this great trophy to show for my 3rd place finish in my age group (out of 38). I was only a minute from winning my age group which gives me great motivation for next year. My times (for the 2 of you who care) were:
500m swim- 12:27 (definitely room for improvement)
20K bike- 42:42 (17.5 mph avg)
5K run- 29:52 (9:30 miles- nothing to brag about!)
transitions- 4:30 (wow I need to speed up!)

Triathlons aren't cheap events- it was $65 or so, but let me tell you about the race that keeps on giving.

Immediately after the race I had an extremely sharp pain in my right foot. It seemed odd as I have never had pain in my foot before. I hobbled around for a couple of days with lots of ice and then noticed that it was getting better. Unfortunately as a resident I have these long 30 hour shifts on my feet and everytime I was on call or had a long day in the OR my foot would hurt. So Monday a surgery got cancelled and I squeezed an appt in with an orthopedic surgeon. 2 hours later I left with a $40 copay for the appt, likely $150 worth of xrays, $180 for the walking boot and $60 for the shoe implant to treat the stress fractures of my 3rd and 4th metatarsals. My insurance is new and no copays have been met so this triathlon just got very expensive. But when I feel down I just stare at my shiny trophy (on my mantle)and know it was worth it. Not really, but being active is more cost-effective than not even if it means an occasional injury.
So if you are in Methodist hospital I'm the resident walking around in my aircast.

Oh and I will be competing in more triathlons next year!