Wow, the swim, what can I say? I swim about as well as a rock floats. All of you experienced triathletes probably already know this, but I learned something very important. My goggles are tinted blue. It was an open water swim, consisting of going around three bright orange buyos (wow I have no idea how to spell that word). But guess what? Bright orange + blue tinted goggles = BLACK. Oh yes, the water was black too. Oh yeah and then my goggles fogged up and I couldn't see a darn thing anyway. I probably actually swam about 600 meters because I was swimming like a drunk person drives. Also I couldn't relax and breathe, so I was floating on my back almost the whole way which obviously did not help my aim at all. Whew. When I got that over with I was tired but ecstatic to be on dry land. Oh and btw I was about the 5th from last person to exit the water. The man standing at the exit of the water told me I did a great job. My response was "Well, at least I didn't have to be rescued, right?" He kept insisting that I did great but I knew he was lying. :) Then someone asked me if I needed water, and I responded "No thanks, I drank enough in the lake".

Not wear blue goggles! Become an excellent swimmer so I didn't have to spend so much time in the lake! Blech!

My stupid power gel thing that I brought wouldn't open. I was kind of pissed about that. I mean really, what are the odds that this would happen ON RACE DAY, you know? I ripped off the top, squeezed and...nothing. It was still sealed. How is that even possible? Luckily I had a backup, but it cost me some time fumbeling around with that crap. Otherwise, I have no idea how long I took in transitioni area.

Bring something to sit on (like a bucket, small cooler, etc).

I hate this bike course. I have ridden it a few times and guess what, I still hate it! It is so full of hills. But I did it, so I can't really complain too much. My first lap on the bike (need I remind you that I was nearly the last person out of the swim) all the fast people were completing their 2nd lap of the bike (it is a three-lap course). So I was getting lapped, which wasn't that big of a deal but people always felt the need to pass me on the turns. I'm not that comfortable on the turns so it made me kind of nervous. And one guy ran me off the road because he tried to pass me on a 90-degree angle turn which was on a two foot wide SIDEWALK. Are you serious!? Obviously his time was more important than my safety or me keeping both of my tires inflated. Luckily I did not have any poppage otherwise I would have been pretty irritated. The last loop of the bike was great because all the fast folks were already done so I didn't get passed at all. :)

Knock the fast people over when they try to pass me on narrow turns. Just kidding. :o)

Not a whole lot going on here; didn't have bike shoes or anything so all I had to do was rack it and grab a drink. Lake water helmet hair is not very attractive, FYI.

The run was supposed to be my strong point, but by this time I was exhausted. I think I ended up running in about 32 minutes but I'm not 100% sure. It was hot, no shade, and I passed a few people which made me at least feel sorta good.

Nothing.

drinking lots of fluids. Take off wet shoes. That's it. Too tired to do anything else. Should have streched.


I suck at swimming. And that could actually probably be considered an understatement.


This was my first triathlon ever. I kind of enjoyed it, but I won't be doing any longer ones anytime soon. This was a great length for me and proved once again that I really, really need to work on my swimming. Next triathlon I will try to find a flatter bike course. :)