Pensacola Beach Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Legs spent and winded from wading. Paddleboarder was right on top of me while I was swimming(because I was one of the last few out of the water from the last wave), so that sort of freaked me out a little. Made me think I was in trouble and just didn't know it, so I got a little panicky, which winded me even more. All in all, the swim sucked. The event was very poorly organized, and there were no course instructions before the race, so I had no idea where we were exiting the water or how to get from water to transition, etc. I was headed toward a sandy beach area, and a kayaker redirected me to go up a tiny little staircase that led out of the water and up to a pier. Then had to run off the pier, THROUGH a restaurant, through the restaurant parking lot, across a 4 lane road with traffic on it (and sand spurs in the median), into another parking lot, and finally to transition.

Not sign up for this race.

Coming out of transition was a little scary. The bikers in the back of the pack leaving T1 were criss-crossing paths with the fast runners coming back in. It was pretty unexpected, because there were no detailed course maps provided before the race.

I enjoyed the bike course, and it was simple enough that the lack of instruction didn't matter. There were posterboard mile markers along the route at every mile. At the end of 5 miles, there was a really nice volunteer directing us into a parking bay as a turn-around.

By the time I finally made it back to transition, the criss-cross problem was over, because most people had already finished. Ha!

Ate a peanut butter GU at the beginning of the run with nothing to drink...bad decision. Mostly just had an easy, enjoyable jog.

Not eat that GU, and try to get faster so that I can see where the runners ahead of me are turning.

As usual, ME! That horrible swim set a bad tone for this event for me. It wiped my legs out for the rest of the race.


From the time I registered, I never received any type of contact, instructions, informational email, nothing. At online registration, all normal divisions were offered (Clydesdale, Athena, First-Timers, para-triathlete). I registered as Athena, along with some others..there were 17 First-Timers. When they posted results on the board, our categories were listed by our names. They called awards for age groups and never said a word about any other division. Later, when the results were posted online, I saw that they had done away with those divisions and placed everyone in the age groups...they should've only offered age group at registration if that's the case. The food they served was red beans and rice (at 9 am). But there was some fruit and cookies to hold me until I could get some food elsewhere. The race was very poorly organized. At arrival, no one would tell me anything. I found the packet pick-up table inside the restaurant, but they didn't know where I should go to get bodymarked or chipped. I just had to wander around asking other racers, many of whom didn't know either...like where to get your t-shirt (found out they were supposed to have given it to me at the packet pick-up table), where to get a timing chip, where to get bodymarked. (None of these things were in the same location.) The only friendly volunteer was the one at the bike turnaround. Overall, it seemed very clique-ish, or maybe I'm just used to the friendly folks of MS and AL. This was only my second tri, but I seriously doubt I do this one again. The bike and run course were pretty enjoyable, but the lack of organization, not having any idea what to expect, and that terrible swim set the tone for an unpleasant morning. I never expect to have a great finish with my slow pace, I just want to have fun. I doubt I do this race again. It did, however, have a great t-shirt when I did get it.
And in their defense, this was the first year for this race. Maybe they'll get it put together a little more in the future.