I felt pretty good, although the excitement of the start had my breathing a little off. I got into a rhythm pretty quick though and was able to really think about my breathing.

I think I looked up a bit too much. I need to be more confident in my ability to swim in a straight line (especially towards the end...I kept thinking the beach would get to me sooner than it did).

This went pretty smooth. I did the sock rolling trick before, and was able to slide into my shoes pretty easily. I think if anything I was overly careful, worried I was forgetting something, so I did an extra check or two.

Practice before so I felt more confident in the simplicity of it.

The bike was definitely the most difficult part for me. I only trained on my bike twice before the race (and only once with the SPD pedals), so I think more training would make a huge different in this area.
The volunteers along the bike route kept me going! I was smiling the whole time, and they were all very supportive and enthusiastic. At one point there was a gigantic hill, and at the top there was a volunteer and a cop. I passed them and said "can you believe I have to run after this?!" Got a big laugh out of the cop!

Train more!

Again, it almost seemed too easy. I had a volunteer right near me so once I thought I was ready I turned to him and said "do I have everything?!"

Again, just confidence. Maybe practice it beforehand.

I felt really good. I had a point when I couldn't really see people in front of me, which was tough. I usually focus on closing the distance/passing the person right in front of me. I caught up to people after a minute or two though and was in groups for the rest of the time. Had a girl catch up with me (I could hear her behind me for awhile, we were running the same pace). She didn't have her number belt on and asked if it would matter. I didn't know, but then we just ran together for the last mile, which was a huge help, b/c we were able to push each other.

Train more...it all comes back to that. I didn't train on the bike or run as much as I should've.

I had to walk the 1.2 miles back to the beach, so I would say that was my warm down.


Lack of training.


For my first race, this was a great one! I didn't really get to enjoy the festivities after since I had to go find my friend and figure out how I was getting out of there, but I am so incredibly happy with how it ended up, and I am completely hooked. Can't wait for my next one!

I hope to have more pictures later. My friend took some, but hasn't sent them to me yet. Also, I didn't think it was uploading my pre-race photos, so there are now multiple copies of the same picture, haha.