Got in the water and was happy that the temperature was not too cold, perfect for the sleeveless. Water was shalllow for a while so I had no place to swim at the gun so I walked out, did a couple of dives into the mass of bodies.

I was kicked, groped, toes pulled, a$$ slapped.....yes, I am still talking about the race! My heart rate was up and I felt a little constricted in my suit. My breathing was off and I was just not in the mood to swim. I kept thinking "damn I have to swim 2.4 later this year in a friggin wetsuit!" (Am I the only person who thinks about a race 7 months in advance while at the start of another race?) I decided to look forward to getting on my bike and started to sing "The wheels on the bus go round and round". That got really annoying so I let my mind wander and wound up thinking about dead bodies floating by in the water! That freaked me out so I concentrated on my stroke and about all of those cheering me on.

Being a point to point race, I had no idea how far along I had gone on the swim and refused to look at my watch. I passed a few girls in swim wave in front of me, so that was cool. Eventually started to see people getting out of the water, yay....no more friggin swimming! I tried to stand up and stubbed my toe on a rock, ouch! Swam a bit more and finally ran out of the water, check my watch was pumped to be out in under 45 minutes!



This was a good swim for me. Not much I can do about getting bumped and pulled on. Who knows, maybe I was having a great a$$ day and all of the chicks in my AG wanted a free slap?

I saw a wetsuit stripper, pointed to him and said, "help!" He ripped that off in no time. The swim exit has carpet, but there were some really big rocks under it. I stepped on one and it hit me right in the arch of my foot. Decided to run on my tip-toes on the carpet and look for ridges where rocks where hiding under it. I wound up side-stepping all over, this probably looked stupid, but worked better with less pain. This transition area was massive!! I'm happy I got out of it so fast and that there were plenty of bikes still on the rack for my AG!



Be aware of the rocks sooner.

The way to describe this course.....HEADWIND for about half of the race!!!

Jumped on my bike and realized quickly that leaving my cycle computer on the bike overnight in transition was dumb. I had cadence but no MPH or distance traveled! I was going down a bridge and the readout was "2.3 MPH"...ugg. Waited 30 minutes to start my "revised Nutrition strategy" of solids for the first 2 hours on the bike. I had a few bites of Fig Newtons with water.

This was a training day for me, so I treated it as such, by chatting. I talked to people I passed....yes, you read the right....I PASSED PEOPLE....LOTS OF PEOPLE! As I passed by I would say "hello" or "great day for ride" or "feel like racing today" or the basic "looking good". MOst racers would reply with a nod or a "hello", but they were probably thinking "shut up!" Or some other colorful phrase. I saw so many odd things on the course and I dont just mean the snake road-kill. Things like Softride bikes with real pedals on it, like the kind on a kid's bike! Or a FELT with the basket cages....who spends that much money and doesn't ride clipless? Or the guy on a mountain bike, complete with aero-bars and the aero-drink!

When I got to the 1st aid station I tossed the G2 I had and was looking for to some Gatorade Endurance, but as I got closer they yelled, "no Gatorade left!" WTF!? This is only the start of the race! I refilled the aero-bottle with water and grabbed a second bottle for the downtube. Turns out none of the bike stations had any Gatorade left during my ride!

Started to eat some Sport Beans and realized quickly that they were sticking together from the heat, leaving me with a mass of Sport Beans. The mass was also sticking to the Fig Newtons...oh joy (insert sarcasm here) watermelon flavored Fig Newtons! Tummmy started to feel a bit off (I wonder why? Once again, insert sarcasm), so I had a Chewy Rolaid....note to self....chewy Rolaids melt in the heat!

Riding on the highway was very cool as was being passed by the pros, I saw Macca!! Kept battling headwind, at one point a guy rode by me and said "nice Guru!" I replied, "thanks you too. Did you order all of this F-ckin wind?" He laughed and kept riding. I see Alli on the ride and we yell to eachother! She was looking great and I was happy she was having a fun race.

I guess having the computer not work was good since it was less demoralizing not knowing how slow I was going into headwind. Along the course I asked one guy "how far have we gone?" He said "we just passed mile 24" I looked at my watch and noticed the chron was off, must have been kicked during the swim and I switched to the time mode. I realized I was going at aa great pace and could PR the bike! I made a deal with my myself to be off the bike by 11:45am.

Kept riding, hoping the wind would change direction or that the course would change and at least put the wind at our back...no such luck. Legs were feeling a bit cramped, took an Advil. Right before I got back on the highway there was a guy yelling "tire! tire!" and then he said "tube!" as I passed him. I had a second tube in my jersey pocket but had already gone by, so I threw my extra tube to road worker standing about 25 yards away from the racer and said "please run back and give this to the guy yelling tube!" Race karma, right? Eventually saw T2 and was off my bike with a few minutes to spare before 11:45am! Yay!!






1) Play God and have a tailwind rather than headwind!
2) Put the cycle computer on in the monring, although, having it not work probably was to my benefit.
3) Leave the Sport Beans in their package to avoid their love-fest of clinging to the Fig Newtons.
4) Hard Rolaids, so they don't melt.
5) Don't toss Gatorade unless I know have another one to replace it with at the aid station.

I got off my bike and felt some chaffing on my right arm-pit, was happy I had Vaseline waiting for me. I globbed that on and it felt better. Shoes and socks on and off to the porta-potty. Saw Matt, mom and my cousin Julie coming out of T2.

Good transition time factoring in a potty break and a really big transition area.

I made a deal with myself that I could only walk the aid stations and wanted to stick to that. However, I forgot that the aid stops were 1.5 miles apart, so I let myself walk for 10-20 seconds at the mile marker signs. One the first incline I immediately felt the lack of electrolytes and the effect of pushing against the wind on the bike. Revised plan....I can also walk the inclines! A good plan always has room for improvement! :)

The run started....INTO THE WIND! Go figure, shocker, right?? Around mile 3 or 4 there is a turn-around so you have a nice tailwind. This was mostly a good thing, but I could immediately smell myself, gross!! At the aid station I would grab water and Gatorade, have a few sips of both and keep running. When ice was available I would put that down the back of my sports-bra....ahhhh....cold! Saw Alli on the out and back and gave her a huge hug! God bless her touching me, I was so sweaty and stunk!

At one point I touched my face and I felt like a human salt-lick! I could feel the salt against my skin, so I began to wash my face at the aid stations as well. It was a very hot run, not much shade. During the run I may have started to get some heat-stroke and felt goosebumps on my skin. For some reason I remember some ER-type show and thought it's important to keep your core chilled (I could be wrong and may have just been delerious and imagining this whole thing, who knows) so I put some ice in my tri-shorts! Chilled tata....it was bliss! But when I looked down, I was ummmm "packing heat", looked like I had a deformed "unit" so I emptied the ice out of my short's leg. There were lots of course photographers out there, I didn't want to look like I was going through some "transformation", but it did cool me off :)

My plan was going great and I made deal to be at mile 6 or beyond by 1pm. Wound up exceeding that goal!! Yay! Passed people on the run...I know crazy that I PASSED PEOPLE ON THE RUN! The heat & wind had taken it's toll on lots of people. When I wanted to walk I told myself, you only have to run until the next mile marker. If that did not work I thought of so many people who would never know the joy of being able to run and that pushed me forward.

At mile 10 my tummy was not feeling good and I let myself walk until mile 11 with the understanding that I had to run for at least 5 minutes after passing the 11 mile marker. I held true to my self-promise and ran 5 minutes and walked for 1 minute. I looked at my watch and knew I had a PR! I told myself, "that amount of time you save in that PR, it's all between you and finish line, baby-doll" Yes, I called myself "baby-doll"! Whatever gets you to finish line is my motto! Never underestimate the power of self-talk.

By 12.5 miles I knew I could run the rest of the way and finally saw and heard the amazing crowds, as well as Matt, my mom and my cousin Julie.....I sprinted in and claimed my 41 minute PR! I made sure to look foward at the finish line so hopefully the finisher's pic is not of my neck looking up at the clock (as it is for IMKY).

Try to run between mile 10-11, my PR would have been EVEN better!! Ice sponges and some bananas on the run course would have been really nice.

A bit of stretching and threw on the flip-flops. Would have loved to see Alli cross the finish line, but I was so tired of my own stink I needed shower....BADLY!


Wind on the bike crushed the legs for the run, but I sucked it up and did pretty well.


Great race, would do this one again! Amazing finish line....New Orleans is always a party!

Fantastic way to start off race season....killer PR!