Holy mother of God. That was, by far, the hardest race I have done. We ended up with swells that were at least 3 feet through the whole swim...and building. I was just happy that I stayed relaxed and calm. No panic whatsoever. Up and down, up and down. Couldn't see the buoys and did pause a few times to figure out where I was. I knew the current was strong, so knew the potential for getting off course was high. Did fairly okay most of the way. Wide of the second turn buoy. Kind of enjoyed the ride back in, until the rip current got me. Could not make it to the finish and had to exit the water a few hundred feet west and run across. Even when I could get my feet down (swimming had become nearly impossible), I was having difficulty moving forward and being pulled across. I know to ride the rip current when caught in it, but, heck, I didn't want to run a mile on the beach. I was getting frustrated, but finally made it. I think my swim time would have been just a bit over last year's if I had been able to navigate the current better at the end.

Then the bike. I was initially worried about (1) the wind and (2) my fitness. I knew I could do the distance, but had not had many long(er) rides leading up this race. Heck. I only decided to do it 5 weeks prior. The first concern was, at least for 50 miles, was not much of an issue. It wasn't significantly more wind than I had been riding in all spring, so I was doing fine, and was actually on target for finishing close to last year's time. The fitness wasn't too much of an issue, but I was feeling it, especially when we were headed back into the wind on 79. Hah. That really wasn't THE wind. I didn't encounter real wind until the turn onto Front Beach Rd. It was like hitting a wall. Then, the gusts between the building had me gripping my handlebars so tightly, my hands were falling asleep. A number of times, I thought I might get blown off of my bike, and even put my foot down once. (I heard that a couple of people did get blown off.)

I was never so happy to run. Actually, at first, I was so shelled, I thought I might not run. But, I had come this far in those conditions, the run might actually feel easy. Maybe not "easy," but much better than either the swim or the bike. It took me a couple of miles to find my legs, and I really had to walk each water station, so not as fast as I would have liked, but good enough for 4th fastest in my age group.

My overall finish of 6:21:18 is 20+ minutes slower than last year, but still my second fastest at that distance...even faster than Augusta 70.3 with its "downhill" swim. My 12th age group place (it shows 11th, but first place was in master's overall group, altho they don't actually do overall awards) qualifies me for the USAT long course nationals in OK City. I am considering it...