Water was calm so I only needed to concentrate on staying on course. Did well going out to the turn, but on the way back the sun was blazing. Couldn't see the buoys until I was right on them. Did well not to stray too far off course by making sure I wasn't too close to the shoreline. My form felt good and my breathing really good. A friend told me to do the swim comfortably, but not to watch the fishies, lol! That way I'd have some strength to get through the mountain biking.

I think I could've put a little more speed into the swim and still done well on the bike. I think next time I'll push just a shade more.

Didn't putz around too much, but did make sure I had everything on, and double checked even. Last year I forgot my gloves. Actually remembered to take a big gulp of some Gatorade. I always forget to hydrate in transition.

Get a better gear bag so things could be set in there properly and not get moved out of order while rummaging.

Rode this as strong as I possibly could with minimal falls and quicker remounting than last year. Rode majority of the hills and flew down the descents. Didn't slow down on the flats this year. Rode hard when I could.

Fix my clips so I can get out of them quicker. I refused to clip in on certain descents because I know if I didn't unclip fast enough, it would have been ugly and possibly the end of the race for me.

I knocked my friend's bike off the rack and tangled my own bike with hers and another bike on the rack. Took me a while to fix that mess without damaging the bikes. I was ready to run in seconds. Sheesh!

Take a breath and think out the re-racking before trying to shove my bike into everything.

I was way to conservative on this run. You couldn't run most of it, but there were parts where I should have pushed. Did feel quite queasy ascending a steep hillside in the blazing sun, so did that carefully, but once in the jungle and water, felt much better. Easy going run that was more of a hike.

Swim the streams, run where ever I wasn't submerged, not wear a hat (didn't see a low branch and ran right into it), push a little bit harder where I was on concrete and asphalt.

Sat down and had a beer.


I need to get leaner, improve my confidence in the swimming, and learn how to use my bike better.


Love this race and it's organizers. If it weren't such an awesome event, I wouldn't have competed again this year after DNFing last year.