Make your first goal to finish the race. Don't worry about coming in last. Think about how many people can't or won't even try to do a triathlon. While I may be competing against my fellow triathletes, I am usually competing against myself (and father time) to have a good race. A very good triathlete friend of mine was an athena who inspired many people to complete a triathlon. She wasn't fast but she competed in many races with her goal mainly to finish the race or to encourage others to finish.

Finishing a triathlon is a big accomplishment. You don't have to do it on a time trial/triathlon bike. Your bike will be fine. In almost every triathlon you will see people riding mountain bikes or hybrid bikes. Just make sure your tires are inflated to their maximum pressure. To make it even easier you can buy some slicks (smooth road bike tires) for it. You don't need special pedals or shoes if you don't have them (but they do help). If you do get them, just make sure to practice with them before the race and to loosen the binding so you can get out of the pedal when you need to (I speak from personal experience).

Transition: For your first race don't worry about speed, worry more about comfort (remember you want to finish). Just have everything laid out on a towel in an organized way. Bike shoes open. Helmet and suglasses ready to be put on. Running shoes loosened and ready (a little baby powder inside it helps). Practice transitioning at home a couple of times. Walk through the transition area on race day finding your spot after the swim and after the bike. Also find the exits for the bike and run. Don't forget to take your helmet off after the bike and you start your run.

Read the NEWBIE thread http://community.active.com/thread/44897?tstart=0 for some more tips on starting.

Read the triathlon magazines out there. Look at the the information on this site and ask triathletes for their help.

Search this website for races in Florida. There are also a couple of other triathlon calendars that you can search.

As far as overcoming fear......Before the race: 1) make sure you can finish each distance of the race separately. 2) do your own version of the triathlon putting all of the distances together. 3) swim in open water (lake or ocean) if the swim will occur there. 4) at the start of the race, let everyone elso go off then go into the water and begin to swim.

Finally......Don't quit!!! You can and will finish it.

If you have any friends that are interested, maybe you could do your 1st one as a team. That's what got me hooked. I still get nervous, but if I hadn't been on a team the 1st time, I probably wouldn't have gotten into this really fun sport. Having 1 or 2 other people you know with you really makes it (and the after parties) fun & a lot less stressful. Now we do them mostly as individuals. Plus, you can always quit after one of the legs if you need to - you just won't be ranked. We had to do that once when one of my friends got hurt on the bike portion.

Plus - don't be worried about coming in last (even though I still am). The starts are usually staggered (in a pool) or staggered in waves by age (in open water), so really, even if you're faster than someone else, you're never head to head with someone. The last person over the finish line could have been very quick, but just started the swim last.

One last thing that I learned - no matter how in shape the person next to you looks, especially while you're standing in line to start your swim, everyone, EVERYONE(that I've ever talked to), is standing there talking about how slow they swim & wondering why they put them at this point in the line-up based on their swim time - everyone is nervous & wondering if they'll do OK.

So rest assured - you will do just fine. HAVE FUN!