Got up at 4:30, loaded the last bags and then the kids into the car. Picked up the requisite McDonalds pancakes for my cheering team and headed out to the race site. Got there in time for an end spot on my rack and got set up. The race started early, so there wasn't a lot of down time after I got set up.

Originally had thought about keeping shoes on pedals but decided against it. I haven't practiced it, and I was concerned about getting the gravel from the parking lot off my feet.

Decided to race today without the HRM. I've wondered if I have allowed it to slow me down more than I should for what should be an 'all-out' effort during a Sprint.
John (jcagg90) was also on my rack. He showed up today with a secret weapon -- his shiny new bike Quintana Roo he's been keeping quiet!

John and I took a jog around the parking lot.

Didn't get my time estimate quite right (I guessed 4:44); however, my seeding turned out to be pretty accurate. Was quickly passed by the person behind me after the first 50m, but it turned out he was sandbagging, as he soon passed several others, too. Other than that, I kept my position and felt pretty decent about my swim. I pushed it, but didn't go completely all out. It was too short a swim to gain or lose much time overall, and I didn't want to be completely spent coming into the bike.

Need to learn some flip turns, or better underwater turns, for handling getting under the ropes. I never stopped at the wall, but I felt a bit awkward a few times getting under the rope and back up to speed.

Not a superb T1, but not horrible. Quickly rinsed gravel off feet and put on socks. One went on funny and I had to do it again, but didn't take too long. I was at the far end of transition from the bike in/out, so I had a longer job, relatively, but I did a running jump onto the bike and got clipped in pretty well.

Shoes already on bike, but I need to practice it first.

Cyclometer wasn't working, so I didn't have speed during the ride. I was only passed by two people, one of whom was the overall winner. I caught up with John (jcagg90) as we began the section of country roads. On the country roads, I took a few turns slower than I wanted, but I decided a few seconds lost on a cautious turn was better than many more lost restarting after a wipeout.
I only took the aero bottle for hydration, and it was plenty since it was a shaded course and overcast.

Not much; this was a great ride for me. We did drive the course the day before, which helped prepare me for the various turns; however, if anything, I would try to ride the course beforehand.

I may have bungled T1 a bit, but I nailed T2! Fastest T2 overall! Got feet out of shoes at right time, great jump off the bike without slowing a bit. Good rack (being an early swimmer helped, since the racks were still mostly empty), and the shoes slipped on quickly.

I got off the bike about 5-10' farther from the dismount line than I wanted.

A PR and long-term goal (sub-20 5k)!!
That first mile felt really slow, and I seemed to take a while to loosen up. The rolling hills were a little rough, since I wasn't expecting them. Beat back the mental boogieman that said, "hey, this hurts, you should relax" and pushed on.

Practice bricks more to see if I can loosen the the legs sooner.

Woo hoo -- 3rd in AG!! (8th overall)

Post-race options included oranges, bananas, water, gatorade. Hot pasta and rolls arrived later. Vendor was offering samples for energy drink and energy bars. (sidebar: Jack was also selling the extra technical shirts ($5/ea). We even bought a couple of the extra technical shirts ($5/ea) for training.)

Chatted with John, Craig (DocShock), Sue (SportySue), Reagan (Rgill) who was jockstrapping for Sue, and a couple others. Met and chatted with Madison, the guy who finished 1st overall, and his wife who were from Fort Worth and didn't really know anyone else at this race. Nice folks.

After cooling off and snacking a bit, decided to run the course again for extra training. Turned out to be a bad idea, as my left shin started hurting. I ended up walking quite a bit, stopping to be pleasant with the volunteers, etc. This second loop took me 30-odd minutes. I figured there was no reason to really damage something.

Stayed around for the awards, of course.

Since I didn't get a workout in Saturday, Beth let me ride the bike home, too. So I got an extra 45min or so of riding in, too. I just felt good to be outside today.

For a first-year race, this one was very well done. Everything was organized and on-time. The bike course was technical, which I liked, and the run course was pleasant. Plenty of volunteers and support from the city. As expected from Jack, no real festivities at the event; however, the pasta was a nice change for food, and the technical shirts were nice swag. Good venue.

Race Reports Modeled with Permission from
Endurancecoach's Triathlon Post Race Analysis Sheet.