probably shouldn't have worn the wetsuit without practicing in it...the water was barely wetsuit legal...something to consider for next year - i think it contributed to my general uncomfortableness in the water compared to my normal enjoyment

no wetsuit, or make sure that I get some training swims in a wetsuit

considering I'd never done a wetsuit transition before, I was happy with this time - I think it was less than my last tri I ran...I used some advice from other message boards about striping down as I went

holy frickin hills batman...the first one going up, I was thinking what the heck did I get myself into...it was rough...I finally found a good gear combo that worked on the back half of the race (not sure about splits, but that felt like a negative split). 2 killer hills at the very last mile...

get some hill training - either for real, or simulated in my training leading up

not a bad transition - everything was quick/easy to take off/put on and i was out the transition relatively quick

I was done by the time I hit the run...grabbed some gel on my way out of the transition area, to pair with some water - but didn't hit a water station until well over half-way though - should have thought about that...

water/gel in transition...not sure where my mind was

stretching and walking around


lack of knowledge of the terrain; lack of training on hills; making the dumb mistake of not using my wetsuit prior to the race


overall well-run race, good post race spread for food (lunch bags with cookies, sandwiches, potato/fruit salad), awards ceremony was nice and lots of door prices

one of my comments about the ppl doing body marking - several of my numbers were written under my suit so they were covered up...should remember to bring a marker to races and do my own possibly...