I seeded myself in the front on the left so I would have room to swim without hitting anyone. Not so. Either I was too slow or everyone else was too fast because within 25 strokes, I was in the sauce. I couldn't get into a good groove and felt awkward. I got tangled up with another racer about midway through the out portion. I looked over and it was Heather B. She was having a great swim!

After I rounded the first yellow buoy to do the across section, I decided to pick up the pace. This felt better but then I lost the ability to navigate. A few breast strokes revealed that I was inside of the rectangle we were supposed to swim around. Doh! I got back on track and decided to add some more kicking since I wasn't too fatigued. I rounded the second yellow buoy to hit the home stretch and felt fast and easy. But, then I ended up in the rectangle again. Ugh! Tried to hammer it in from there.

Learn to sight. I should be able to do this by now. I'll try to find some IM swims on TV so I can scrutinize their technique.

Also, go faster from the start to get into a groove and avoid getting caught up in the other swimmers.

Decided to leave the socks for the run because my feet were grassy. Got the Garmin on but forgot to hit start. Again.

Get moving. I thought I was moving fast here but apparently stopped to ponder the sock question.

Either learn to actually start the Garmin or just not bother with it in the race.

This was my best bike ever.

After I saw my time, I wished that I could have hit the 20mph avg milestone, but this bike was 1.3 mph faster than I did last year so it rocked. I credit the race wheels, my super bike fit (from Curtis at Cannon Cyclery) and Doug's great training advice.

Since the men started first, not many people passed me on the bike, which was a nice change. In face, I passed a lot of people, even men! And some weren't even on mountain bikes! The first 5/6/7 miles had a lot of turns and twists. It was hard to get enough room to pass folks without riding too long in their draft zones. I had to sit up and apply the brakes a lot. I started to settle in after the first 2 miles and once I'd eaten my Gu. I must get low sugar on the swim and transition because the Gu never fails to lift my mood. I was worried that I was going too hard on the bike, but I remembered Doug's advice "hammer the bike and see what you can hold on the run" and Heather's command, "don't let me catch you on the bike" so I hammered. Heather still caught me in mile 3. Darnit! However, I was able to keep her in sight for many miles after that, which is huge because she is much faster than me on the bike. We were menaced by some dogs in the middle miles and passed some beautiful lake houses. The weather was lovely and overcast and it even sprinkled a little. Once we got away from the lake, we got to ride on some new pavement, which was lovely and smooth. A few women passed me but I was able to catch a couple of them. I played tag with a couple of men too, which was neat.

Drank about 3/5 of a bottle of Gu2O and ate the one Gu.

Really, I can't imagine a better bike for me right now. Maybe next year I can hit 20 mph.

I need to work on my passing so I can do it smoothly without having to sit up or brake.

I'm not flexible enough to do anything more than stop and climb delicately from my bike. That's OK - it's not that slow. There were 7 bikes on my rack, so it was really hard for me to put my bike on. I had to move the bike next to mine to have room to rack. Applied socks and shoes, grabbed visor/race belt and ran out. Realized I still had my helmet on. Doh! I ran back and hung it on my bike and then went out.

Remember to remove my helmet and glasses in transition.

I knew I had those two ladies to catch plus Heather so I just tried to go as fast as possible. I put my visor on and realized that my race belt was still buckled into it. Oops. Then, I tried to start my Garmin. Malfunction. Had to turn off and start over. Heather's mom was cheering in the circle, so that was a good boost. I tried to keep a good pace and reel in as many people as possible. I caught 1-2 of the other women right off of the bat but two in red outfits were far in front. At the one mile mark, my Garmin gave the distance alert - and kept doing it. I gave up and turned it off. Since I knew those two ladies were in front of me and I knew they'd passed me on the bike, I just chased. I got to say hi to Heather and a nice Team Zoot/Gu guy named David. As I got more uncomfortable, I cheered more for the other racers and waved to people. I saw Doug and he looked speedy. At the 2 mile water station, my mouth was dry so I got a cup and took a sip. Dumped the rest on myself for comfort and soldiered on. Slowly, I got closer to the red ladies. At the 2nd turn around, I told the volunteer (blue hat with flower) that I was chasing them so they sped up. Darnit! I told them that I'd never catch them if they sped up. But, miraculously, I still passed them. I knew there were at least two other women in front of me because of the out-n-backs, but I had no idea of their ages so I was hoping to keep that place to get 3rd in my AG. As we turned to come into the park, I passed a guy and told him to "speed it up because I'm about to pass you". Ha ha. He said to come on through but I had to admit to him that I was just trash-talking and was really about to die. I tried to kick it in to the finish and was glad to hear Heather's mom at the turn and then Doug's mom, Doug, Kirk and my girls cheering me in. I had to really grit my teeth to finish strong because I had nothing left.

Doug told me later that one of the red women wasn't even in the race. She was just out for a run and got caught up in the group? Weird.

Learn to use my Garmin? I don't have any idea of my pacing, but this was an easy race to pace because of the out-n-backs. Gotta love a rabbit or 2.

Ideally, I'd like to get to 7min/mile or better but I'd have to actually taper for that.

Hung around and cheered for the other racers. Got cookies for the girls. Was thrilled to see the multiple awards for NAMC folks and friends and hang out with Heather's family.


Inexperience and dumb transition mistakes.


I love this race. This was Doug's first race and my second last year. The park is beautiful and Doug's folks can bring their RV. There is lots of neat stuff to do in the park so we can bring the girls. No beef jerky in the goody bag this year, but we will stop to get some on the way home.

We will definitely do this race again.