I just posted my write up for my first race. It was a great experience. Thanks to this board for all the infomation and thanks to Ron for creating this board and the training logs.
One thing that surprised me is that it is kind of a lonely sport. Especially with a pool/staggard start, there weren't many people around me at all on the course. Just me vs myself.
I did my first tri a couple weeks ago as well and was surprised by how much of the time I was alone also. I did 1/2 the bike and almost all of the run without seeing another person. It was blast though! Congrats on your first finish!