As our wave moved closer to the water, Wendy, Jamie and I tried to move closer to the front. I know now we should have moved much closer. They told us to start and everyone waded in the water to start swimming. It was really, really crowded in the beginning. I was doing a water polo kind of stroke to keep water out of my mouth and so I could see my way to the buoy. I reached the turn buoy quickly and there were women all over the place so I got slowed down. After the turn is was still fairly crowded but I tried to make my way around and inbetween other swimmers to avoid contact - even doing that I got hit and kicked in the chest twice. I alternated between breathing every stroke to bilateral breathing on both sides every 3 strokes. I tried to draft off a couple women but they were swimming slower so I ended up going around them. After reaching the first orange course buoy, I had mostly clear water. I swam until my hands hit the bottom and stood up to exit the water. I took a quick glance back and saw many yellow (my AG) caps still in the water so I jogged/walked up the hill to transition. As I started running, I heard my name and saw Dan and the girls which was great.

Start closer to the front. I know in a race like this I have decent speed but my earlier experience this season made me second guess my swimming.

My feet hit the beach at 11:43. (2:00/100y)

This T1 includes that huge-ass hill up from the beach that everyone knows and then a long run all the way around the entire transistion area. The hill sucked but I ran as best I could. I ran to my rack - grabbed my gel, shoes on, sunglasses and helmet on, bike down and off I went. Jogged through large transition area to the mount line.

I don't know... it was quite a distance from the timing mat (where we entered) to the T1 exit so I guess it wasn't a bad transition.

The bike is definitely my strength. I knew I could hammer this course and pass a lot of women. I rode the course a couple weeks ago and that was definitely an advantage; I remembered some parts where I could hammer and really pick up speed. This ride is up and down the entire time so it was a good course for me. I passed TONS of women and the only women who passed me for good were on tri-bikes. (I repassed anyone else)

I had to consciously ignore my roadie mentality to remind myself not to draft. Jamie had told me Elena and Ken were doing the officiating on the back of motorcycles so every time one went by I looked to see if it was one of them. One time I did see Elena right as she passed me and I saw her writing down a number and I was praying it wasn't mine but I didn't think I was drafting since I was out to the left of the girl in front of me.

I decided at the very beginning of the ride to use the alarm feature on my watch to beep every 15 minutes to remind me to drink. (my normal plan for long rides) It started getting hot and I did not need to get to the run overly dehydrated. I took a gel around the 30 minute mark.

My friend, Wendy, caught me around mile 15 and I tried to stay with her but I couldn't. I'd been hammering it and I was tired. I think I was still able to finish strong but by that point I was spent. I came screaming down the hill to make the turn up to transition and dismounted.

I wasn't very happy with my time but looking at the results I was 16/155 for my bike split so that's not too shabby.

I forgot to include that my max speed was 43 mph - woo-hoo!

I honestly don't know. I wanted to do this course in under an hour and I've replayed the ride over in my head and I can't figure out where I could have picked up time. This was the best ride I had in me today.

Another long run from the timing mat to the exit but I guess that's pretty standard for large races. After dismounting my bike, I saw there were very few bikes in transition. Dan estimated there were probably less than 30 bikes.

I found my rack and Wendy was just finishing her T2. She was racked 2 bikes from me so I gave her a high 5 as she left. I racked by the brake levers, took off my bike shoes, put on my socks and my running shoes. I grabbed my hat and race belt and put them on as I was running out of transition.

Probably nothing, this was a decent transition. Maybe next time I'll go sockless because it took longer than it should have to get them on.

I started the run feeling good, no dead legs and no cramping but I was tired. The bike had taken a lot out of me but I thought maybe I'd be able to go just under 30 minutes. I very quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. I passed the first water table and saw Greg cheering for me telling me pick up my cadence - HA, yeah that wasn't gonna happen. :) I was by myself for a little while and then women started passing me.

I got to the water stop and took a cup and it was the best ice water I'd ever had. They were also handing out the duck sponges and I told the guy I had to have a sponge for my kids. I didn't know it was an ice cold sponge and it felt great. I wanted them to have one so I stuck in the waste band of my shorts in the back, under my shirt.

I ran out to the turn around and saw Sandy and Wendy. I started back and my left knee really started bothering me. The road was slanted and it was irritating my IT band. I tried running in the middle but then I'd hear someone coming fast up behind me so I moved over. I stopped one time to try to stretch it out and it helped for a little while but by the time I was getting close to the finish line it really hurt.

Run more in training if I decide I want to be a serious triathlete. I was the only one in my AG in the top 45 that took over 30 minutes for the run. Get over my love/hate relationship with running.

I crossed the finish line, saw Sandy and Wendy and happily took a water and another ice sponge. The sponge felt wonderful, I was definitely overheated. I walked around, talked to Wendy and found Dan and the girls. We made our way to the shade and saw Jamie briefly. We hung out until we could get in to transition. The line for the food was really long so I didn't get any.


Once again it was lack of run training. Not seeding myself closer to the front on the swim.

This is probably my best finish in a large race and I'm happy about that but still disappointed I didn't hit my goal of 1:45. If I'd hit that goal I would have finished 17th in my AG - I gave up way too many spots in the run.


This race is very well organized and there were TONS of volunteers. It's a great race and I would do it again.