As we were entering the pool there was a 10 second delay between each competitor. I was a bit worried as this was my first pool swim and I've heard all the horror stories about people mis-quoting their times and the cluster muck that it ends up creating. I've heard some people skew their times to try to account for this and that only ends up making it worse. So needless to say I was anticipating the worst. I signed up for what I thought was a reasonable time for me 1:45/100 meter, although I signed up for the race back in the winter and I've improved a bit on the swim, although I didn't edit my time.

I climbed into the pool and got ready for my start... 3...2...1...go and I was off. I quickly settled into a nice rhythm and intentionally tried not to push too hard on the first 50 as I didn't want to get my HR too high and end up petering out. I reached the wall and pushed off under the lane marker, or so I thought, as I came up I conked my head on the lane divider... I guess I was a bit too far away when I made the turn. No big deal I'll adjust on the next length. The next 3 50s went pretty well, I was swimming pretty easy and I'd adjusted well for the turns. As I hit the 200 mark my plan was to ramp it up a bit for the next 150 which I started to do. I caught one person on this length and since we had the whole lane in this format I just passed in the lane, easy peasy.

At the turn at 300 I saw that someone was right on my heels and I knew that I would be passed. Sure enough just about 8 or 10 strokes on that length I felt someone touch my feet so I moved over a bit and let them pass in the lane. I recognized the person from their kit, and I remember he was at least 3 or 4 folks behind me at the start so he made up a nice chunk of time. I got passed again at that wall for the final length and although I thought that I was swimming pretty hard for that 150 it would seem that I was either slower than I thought or the two folks that passed me were just that much faster. Oh well in the end not too bad... I took the last 50 intentionally a bit slower as I didn't want to have a repeat of the 70.3 in RI where I fell coming out of the water and banged up my knee pretty bad. I eased into the wall and climbed up the ladder without incident and I was off into transition.

All in all, not too bad of a swim. 7:00 total time, which included the climb out of the pool and about a 25 meter jog outside to the timing mat... so I figure I was actually swimming for about 6:45.

I don't know... maybe push a bit harder. I really didn't feel like I was overly taxed getting out of the pool so I guess I could've went a bit harder, but I was actually fairly pleased with the results. I'm not the strongest swimmer to begin with, so 1:45/100 isn't too bad especially when you factor in the ladder climb and short run to the mat.

Ugh. My transition kinda sucked! I was thinking that this would be super easy... just run up to my gear throw my goggles in my bag, pull on my shoes and go. I was expecting to go under a minute, but that didn't happen! I got to my rack just fine, goggles in hand I bent over to throw them in my bag and grabed my right shoe. Right shoe went on fine and I leaned over to grab my left shoe. With shoe in hand I had repeated issues getting it on my foot. Everytime I lifted up my left foot to pull the shoe on, I kept loosing my balance and had to put my foot down to steady myself. I couldn't figure out what was going on. After about 3 or 4 attempts I finally got my shoe on and then took off. Ooops! I guess I was so frustrated with the shoe issue I forgot to grab my race belt! Turned around and ran back to my rack to grab it, then I was finally off.

I figure the two issues cost me about 15 seconds or so but luckily it looks like others didn't fare to well either I ended up 9th OA in transition and no one went under a minute, so all in all not too bad, but I did miss an opportunity to pick up some time.

Not forget my race belt, and hope that I don't lose my balance putting my shoes on.

No bike leg

Once out of transition I geared up for what would hopefully be a good run. It was a bit weird for the first 500 meters or so... we ran out of a parking lot and had to hop up and down some curbs, run over grass, and then down a gravel path before getting to the main paved trail. This part kinda sucked since I was being careful of my footing the whole way and once we got to the gravel path I was real careful. I was wearing very lightweight racing flats (Zoot Ultraspeed) so all those damn rocks hurt my feet and traction was a bit of an issue especially since this part was down hill.

Once on the paved trail I settled into the run and was feeling good. The path wound through the woods so it was nice and shaded. The first half was mostly downhill so I was able to keep a nice pace the whole way and was picking folks off with ease. The first mile came in at 6:48. A bit slower than I had hoped but given the first 500 meters I was OK with it. After the first mile or so, there was a smallish hill that led up to the turnaround point. This is where it got a bit confusing. Picture this if you will. The trail runs a straight line and up ahead you see the aid station on the left... shortly after that you see the sign that indicates the turn around point. Logically you think "ok run past the aid station and turn around" But not so. Just before the aid station there is a left hand turn that simply is a quick diversion (picture a letter C intersecting with straight part of the tail). So the course actually goes up the trail, left before the aid station loop past (around) the aid station, left back onto the part of the trail you were just on, then hit the turn-around and run straight down by the aid station (i.e. skip the "C" shape part). I ran the proper course... only one other person I saw in this whole area did the same... countless people ran straight up the trail and past the aid station to the turn around. Other than a small tape arrow on the trail, there was no other indication that you were supposed to make the left hand turn... no marshal at that point. It didn't help to have the aid station right there either 'cuz all the volunteers shouting "water" "HEED" etc. was simply a beckoning for everyone to run right to the aid station bypassing the "C" shaped portion.

After the turn I knew that the nice long section of down hill I had in the first half would now be a not-so-nice long section of up hill. I enjoyed going down the small little hill I had just run up prior to the aid station and got ready for the steady uphill section. I managed this well, I think, and didn't put any undue stress on my legs. I held a pretty steady pace and was able to pass a few more people in this section. Overall not bad, mile 2 came in at 7:10 so not that bad considering the course, again a bit slower than I had wanted but all in all not too bad.

The final 1.1 miles would be an all out to the finish for me, except that I knew I'd have to deal with the gravel section and curbs again, but at least this time the gravel part was up hill so I just ignored the pain of feeling the rocks pounding my feet and ran pretty hard knowing that there was little danger of slipping/falling going up hill as opposed to the caution I ran with at the start when it was downhill. All things considered... the uphill portion, the gravel path, the grass section, and curb hopping I did fairly well for the final leg, Mile 3 came in at 6:39, and Mile .1 came in at :38, for an overall 21:15.

Cut the course short? No just kidding of course.

Nothing really I think that for what the course was I did pretty well. I'm sure that I could have pushed harder, I know that I felt better at the end than I do when running an open 5K so I did leave some time out there, but I'm still pretty happy with the results.

Walked around for a bit and had some watermelon and fruit bites. Stretched out and then enjoyed the warmth of the sun while I awaited the awards ceremony.


Being careful of my footing on the run course, and I always feel as though I could've pushed harder.


Another good event by SetUp... I like doing their races. I was a bit disappointed about the bike leg being cancelled at the last minute, but from what I understand it wasn't their fault.

My only real gripe with the race was that goofy little section of the run right before the turn around. That needs to be changed or marshaled better next year. I saw several people not make the turn in just the time I was at that section of the run... I can only imagine how many people "shorted" the course overall.

A fun race and a good day. I ended up missing out on the Overall podium (4th place overall) but did manage to take first place in the Masters division so I was pretty happy about that.