Swim started off with somebody asking if I knew my wetsuit was torn. Well, I know now... Little did I know this was going to be just the start.

The swim itself was fine, usual scrum for the first 300 yards, cleared up somewhat after that. The real challenge in this swim was the fog. You couldn't see any of the markers very well. I basically followed the crowd, which seemed to work fine.

Less fog, not tear my wetsuit.

My T1's always suck. Uncoordinated and slow. Something to work on this winter I guess.

Go faster.

Wow, ok where to start w/ this one.

New bike (Felt B16, love it so far), but the fitter didn't tighten the seat clamps very well. The seat post fell about 4" around mile 5 and I rode like that the rest of the race (nobody I asked had an allen wrench). I have no idea of having the seat so low robs power, or just injures knees after some period of time. I'll guess I'll know more tomorrow morning..

Miles 0-30 were just fine, minus the seat post thingy. Except, either I totally blew through a bottle exchange somewhere around mile 30-35, or they didn't have one. Either way, because of that I had ZERO water to drink from for about an hr on the bike.

Somewhere around mile 32 my universal computer mount started to twist and come loose. Rather than risk losing the Garmin, I pulled it off my quick release and put it back on my arm. Unfortunately that makes it hard to read so even through I had my Garmin on the bike, I never looked at it again.

Mile 35'ish, I see a dog crossing the road - first thought was I hope he's friendly. Second thought was oh, that's a pit bull. Next reaction is "crap he's definately NOT friendly" as he got in an aggressive stance as I approached him and took a swipe at my leg as I passed. Nothing like a mean pissed off dog chasing you for about 1/4 mile to get the HR and average speed up. Unfortunately w/ the lack of water that mini interval session spent a lot of energy.

BUT, had a good bike for me - I probably outbiked my fitness given the conditions of the day (seriously, the only hot racing day I've had in all summer and it's at the end of Sept? In Seattle? I will pay for this on the run...

Not miss, or add in another water station. Seriously if there were only 2 out there that was poor planning. If, in fact, there were 3, then missing the 2nd was is all on me and I would like to do that differently. Oh, and not have to outrun a pissed off dog would be great too.

Eh, average T2. Rack bike, shoes off, running shoes on head out.

Not go down the wrong isle initially...

So I assumed I blew too much of my legs on the bike but hoped I could still manage somewhere just above a 10/mi pace. For the first 4 miles or so I was just below a 10/mi pace and was feeling good. Then the sun peaked out from the clouds and that basically ended my day. I got hot really fast and wound up walking far too often.

Around mile 10 a bee apparently decided I smelled fantastic and followed me, seriously. S/He buzzed around my head about 10 times and was getting ever closer. I really dislike bee stings and by mile 10 wasn't in the mood anymore so I swatted at it. And surprise, I hit the little f'er in mid flight. Saw him crash and burn on the road and made it a point to step on him. In the process managed to stepp off the roadside and slightly twist my ankle (Karma?).

The final 1.4'ish miles are on dirt trail around the lake. I was pretty sure I was going to walk most of this trail, but just as we started this woman passed me and started talking about the race. She wasn't running super fast, but I with talking etc. we paced each other pretty well. Ran the entire last 1.4 miles w/ her and acutally wound up catching 2 people in my AG about 700 yards from the finish. Special thanks this person for being my pacer, it helped a ton.

Make it cooler, make the aid stations more spaced and make sure the people serving know the difference between Gatoraid and water. Many times I asked for both and I'd say 99% of the time was given both Gatoraid... Or both water, or when I did receive both they mixed them up and said on was water, when it was in fact gatoraid.

stood in the lake for about 5 minutes


heat, skill, talent, crazy animals and pissed off insects.


race was good but the post race food was lame. Wilted salad, pretzels, oranges and to the best of my knowledge no water...