Water was gross. Black. Pitch black. For some reason, in the beginning of swims I really, really want to quit but then I get over it and Im good. Today was no different. Wanted to quit, felt like crap, didn't know a good reason to finish, blah, blah, blah. Then decided to shut up and focus on form. Sighted ok but had to stop and fix goggles once. My friend was first out of water and she swears the course was long - was expecting 15 mins. or so and swam 19 mins. speedy she is.

looong run to transition, long run to bike mount. dropped a gel somewhere along the way.

not drop my gel.

Headwind for 3/4 of the ride. Flat as a pancake too. I stayed strong for most of the ride, played leapfrog w/ a few folks for most of it. Different sets of people. Headwind going out, tailwind coming back on first loop but alas, the wind shifted to headwind out and back on second loop. That was discouraging. I stayed in aero the entire time up to about 1:35 or so and then had to stretch a lot. Having the headwind at the end sapped my energy and focus. Had stayed w/ a couple of cervelo peeps for a few miles and they lost me with about 4 miles to go. Legs were tight and mentally I missed my gel that I should have had. Did slow 2x for bottle grabs. there was once guy who did NOT enjoy being chicked by a pink camoflauge bike. Everytime we leapfrogged, he gave me a stink eye on his way back up. He was 63.

More practice staying aero so my back and legs aren't so sore. I never train in the flats so Im always moving around in the saddle.

Bad T2. Dropped my inhaler on way in, couldn't dismount bike to save my life cuz my legs were tight. Got to spot, sat down to put on socks, and literally couldn't get back up. A friend had just gotten in also and wasn't running due to a pulled hamstring. Gosh, I was jealous of her at that moment! Grabbed some gels and my inhaler - shoved everything down shirt, up legs of shorts and away I hobbled.

Not sit down! ;)

Again, dropped a gel coming out of T2. Dammit. This run was all about shooting for 9mm. I felt like I was going way faster than I actually was. Im happy with the effort I put out and the fact I did not give in and walk - I did walk 2 aid stations but got up and running again quickly. It was not a parade past me like it usually is and I remained focused on my form and my overall goal so I am happy about that too. There were about 8 girls at turnaround who were within @ 2-3' of me and I held 6 of them off. The other 2 pranced by and were happily tring to chat to me. I was working way hard and didn't stop till the end.

More bricks?

walked around and found Bridget who was 6th oa f and full of blisters and misery. Waited for Alminda to come in and got a few pix of us all.


My goal was 4 hrs. with sub goals of 19+ on bike and 9mm on run. I had bronchitis leading up to this race - hence the inhalers - so I was tapered and rested more than I thought I would be. Although my run was a lot slower than I wanted, I did stay strong and push and never gave in so for that, I am glad. A good, hard mentally challenging day out there.