Good swim for me. I found a pair of feet that were moving at my normal swimming pace so I was able to draft off of him and catch a breath. Kept trying to pass him and move up to a different pair of feet but never quite could and would drop back behind him. Rinse, Repeat for the remainder of the swim. Wound up sprinting on the final 200m and showed up in T1 with my heart pounding.

Realize earlier on that I wasn't going to be able to pass the guy I was drafting off of and find anyone else and just hang out behind him and conserve energy.

Still am not putting shoes on pedals. I prefer to put my shoes on and run with them. Less than ideal, I know, but it's more comfortable.

My heart was racing in T1 so I was moving with less coordination than I had hoped. I also took it slow to help catch my breath a bit.

Fun bike leg! Heart was really hammering for the first 3-4 miles of the first lap, then found my groove. It's really hard for me to find hills to train on so the technical climbs of the course were difficult, but a good challenge!

Pretty good T2 for me. Was surprised how quickly I got out.

Again, it's very hard for me to train on hills. The climbs and descents were very difficult and I would have to walk for a minute or two every mile to get my HR back down. Very scenic and beautiful course, though. I was shooting for 11min/mi so I call it a win!

Got back in and almost collapsed. First Oly race meant I was worn out but proud.


Lack of training on hills.


The course is beautiful and the race is very fun. The aid stations on the run were plentiful and volunteers were very helpful.

One thing I wasn't expecting was that I wasn't allowed to enter transition prior to getting body marked or putting my number on the bike. My typical process is to show up with my transition bag packed with all my gear (including numbers in it) and then prep inside transition ending in body marking. The volunteers literally WOULD NOT let me even put my bag down in transition area to get my number out. I had to drop all my stuff in body marking, find my number, put it on the bike, get body marked, then pick everything up before I could get into the transition area.

Also, post-race food was terrible. I am a slower racer, but by the time I got back, packed, and ready to eat, all that was left was rolls and Chex Mix. I don't know if they had more food initially and I just missed my chance, but I was hoping for at least a sandwich or something!