The Utah Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

So the race site/instructions said 1 loop.....got to the water, then there were murmurs of 2 loops....sh!t, which is it!? Once we started swimming and could see all the buoys, 2 laps was obvious, but it was a bit unnerving not knowing to start.

Dirty water...cloudy...very warm.

I've done many tri's now, including some crowded 70.3's and a 140.6...I was, for some reason, hit more on this course than ever!!! There were alot of swimmers swimming every which way!!! Geez, people, SITE!!! I got hit in the eye by someone's arm cutting in front of me...no shiner, but I thought there would be. Lots of people grabbing my feet and legs, and I even had to let them know with some kicks to back off....I rarely, rarely do that.....b/c they back off or move before I have to!

Had to swim thru some weeds...yuck.

Get closer to the front of the pack.

A bit of a jog to T1. I could not get one wetsuit leg off my ankle!!! my chip ankle. The harder I tried, my calf started to cramp up bad!! It sucked! Finally got it off and was off.

Get thinner ankles...maybe I have kankles??

This bike course rattled my teeth out! I lost my Acclerade bottle (rattled out of the holder...didn't know until I reached back to get it!). There was a century ride going on too, and I had to round around people riding 2, 3, 8 abreast...move!!!! I came upon someone who crashed (not sure how I didn't see it--must have been aero and looking down), cradshed bad! He was till tangled in his bike and his water bottle was rolling away from him. Someone turned around to help him....I slowed down and pulled up---the SAG wagon was off in the distance, so I said I would catch up and tell them to come back stat. Of course, the vehicle sped up and I didn't catch up for about 2 miles (at the turnaround)...I've never seen road rash like I saw today. :(

After that, pretty normal....except my teeth rattling out.

Wear a NFL certified mouth guard.

So I run to my bike rack, put my bike on, and the bike rack and bike start to move forward....oh, sh!t!!!!...didn't catch it. crash. some spectators came to help me out...we got it fixed, but it cost me some time and I have nice lovely new scratches on my bike......sigh.

Wrap bike in bubble wrap.

By now, it's hot and humid and sunny (now it's not as humid, as say, Florida, but for here, it was humid and it sucked). The first out and back was 4 miles total and it was totally exposed and hot. I paid for my lack of Bricks during this segment bad. The next 9 miles went ok. I still felt overheated and had to do some quick powerwalk breaks. I knew I would pay for my lack of bricks and lack of long runs...and I did. :)

Not sure.....

Some walking around and stretching.


Doing 2 other 70.3's and a 140.6 before this. ;-)


I could see they were running out of water at the aid stations durning my run....I bet they ran out for the later runners. Not good. The rough road was taxing. It wasn't the best organized race I've done, but it was ok (I've been spoiled on my long courses!). Bottom line, my long course season is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!