Wow this was a tough one. About 1/2 way out to the pier there started to be some 2 foot rollers. OOOKKK No problemo. I was quite pleased that really little to no contact this year and I was drafting well and keeping up with the first pack of ladies. Got to the turna nd now in water unprotected by the pier. Can you say white caps? Waves crashing over us but at least you could kind of ride them in and we were with the current. Was going fairly well and passing people from my wave and the waves that were in front of me still managing to draft some.

Then the last leg.....wooooo doggie. Waves were kicked up and crashing over us. Didn't matter which way you turned your head you got a mouthful of seawater. Fighting current and surf the whole way. I did OK navigating but it was a tough leg. They rescued a guy onto a jet ski near me and took off right in front of me. I got a bad lungful of water and turned over and backstroked until I could breathe again. Did the best I could in the conditions. Had trouble getting up the stairs was a little dizzy.

Swim in a wave pool? Seriously rough rough swim. They shortened the swim to 1000 meters for the last few waves due to worsening conditions. This is actually my best performance relative to the other participants in my age group at this race despite its slowness timewise.

Came into transition and found my spot. I walked. I knew this race had no potential for a PR of any kind due to injury and weather so I was not into killing myself. Got my wet suit off well and my helmet/glasses on. Grabbed my gels and bike and off I go. I was atonished at how many bikes were still in transition.

Not be injured so I could run more. Not have aspriated 1/2 of the bay

First thing was I had a really hard time getting my left foot into my shoe. I do the shoes elasticed on the bike thing and have for years but today it didnt' work out well for me. No idea. Took me a good 1/2 mile to get both feet into my shoes and properly secured. Then WOOOO DOGGIE. Talk about WIND. Holy smokes. Well, here is the thing. a week before the race I wrecked my bike fairly badly in the rain so I was really still a bit twitching about the whole thing. There are a TON of turns and hairpin turns as well as speed humps on this course and I definately was extremely conservative. I just so didnt' want to go down. I was fighting the wind trying to take the bike out from under me the whole time. There is an out and back at the start of the course thru downtown and the intersections were like wind tunnels. Thing was that the wind seemed to be constantly changing directions so it was hard to deal with.....well at least it was for me a week S/P crash.

Headed west (I think) I was doing a measly 16.7 and passing people like they were standing still into the head wind. I passed a lot of guys. I slowed down so much on the turns they would tend to pass me right back but whatever. Came thru the golf course and speed humps and by the bottle drop. Back and about thru neighborhoods. Saw Tom twice and yelled for him.

FINALLY we had a little tailwind and I was cruising along. Made a turn and some agressive guy just HAD to pass me and then dropped a bottle off his bike which I ended up running over but I didn't wreck!!! I passed Bridgett around this time and we said Hi. Was kind of a fun stretch pulling 22-23 without much effort. Came back by where my mom and dad were stationed and I took my feet out of my shoes which went MUCH better than getting them into my shoes.

Given the windy conditions and being 1 week S/P crash I will take it. I was very tentative but I am OK with it.

Not wreck my bike a week before the race

Ran a little with my bike, re-racked and got my socks and shoes on. Race belt, hat and a gel to go.

Be less injured so I could run more

Heh. Yeah right. My longest run since IMFL has been all of 6.4 miles. Just a bit undertrained and a bit over injured. I had no illusions about doing well just getting thru it. Right now I am battling a sore right hip from last weeks bike crash, achilles tendinitis and a spraned ankle of the left. Nope I don't have a leg to stand on.....HAHAHA yeah I should do stand up right? Oh yeah and my EIA flared for the first time in 2 years. AWESOME.

Started out and ran for a bit but could not catch my breath really. Walked til I could breathe. Went on like that for some time. Hip was sore but it wasn't getting worse and actually seemed to loosen up a bit at times. My left achilles and ankle were QUITE unhappy about it all. I actually wasn't running too badly when I could run and even managed to pass some people who were running which is unprecedented. Its hard to be motivated when you really are not expecting to do well no matter what. I did a good job keeping cool on the course and drinking. Ran the last 1/4 mile in to the finish.

Not wreck my bike a week before race day, be less injured.

Finished and saw Cecelia (trizebbie) right away. Found Tom and my parents. Sat down and we took pictures and did a race re-cap together. Very nice. Got some pizza and beer then cleaned things up and went back to my B&B to shower and get out of dodge.


Injuries, tenativeness on the bike, wind, waves, injuries


Like I said above, my major goal was to come out of this without a season ending injury or making anything else worse. You gotta paint with the colors God gave you and my colors were all shades of black that day. I had a great time racing with my dad on saturday and it was a nice low key weekend with friends. Congrats to everyone who toed the line. I hope everyone had a great time. I had 2 friends with some unfinished emotional business on this course and I congratulate them both on a job well done. Onward and upard!!