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 Swim
Comments: For 10 or so minutes, I didn't think a wetsuit would be worth it...I chose right. The swim was pretty uneventful, mostly freestyle, but I did breast-stroke when I got close to the buoys . . and at the end when everyone around me was too.  Transition 1
Comments: The fastest T1 time in my age group! Yay me! I ran, yes I ACTUALLY ran the 1/2 mile from the water into transition! As I got out of the water, my mind was on my shoes....must remember that I put my crocs just after the timing mat. Hubbie was supposed to stand by them to remind me to get them, but he wasn't there....As I was putting on the crocs, I saw him still watching the water's edge....I said aloud, "hmmm....goodbye honey bunny..." and took off. He was distracted by watching a rescue effort, then wondered what was taking me so long, and who stole my shoes? He figured it out when my bike wasn't in transition :-)  Bike
Comments: I don't know exactly how I ranked on the bike cuz the official results have our T2 time added together, but I FEEL like I might have been 1st or 2nd. Since it was a time-trial swim start, I ended up starting just about dead last....I know I blew past folks in my AG during transition, and it was quite nice to see so many bikes on the racks when I got there! My goal suddenly switched from having a sub-40 run to 'don't let anyone pass me on the bike.' There was strong head-wind, but the Coyote loves wind...so off I went. I made it to the turn-around having passed about 9 people and not getting passed. After the turn-around, I saw how far back everyone was a knew they had no chance :) By the last mile, I had worked up 15 places, but one of the girls I passed blew by me as I was getting out of my shoes. She was pretty young, so I kind of figured she wasn't an over-40 athena. What would you do differently?: Pick a landmark on the way out so I knew exactly when to get out of shoes. I ended up taking one foot out way too early. Transition 2
Comments: Rolling up my socks was a great idea and getting the socks on was easy. It was also nice that I had all this ROOM on the rack cuz there weren't many bikes there :) I really wish I had the real info for t2.  Run
Comments: Run goal was to break 40 min and have my first decent tri run ever. I hadn't taken it as easy on the bike as I'd hoped to, but I thought I might be OK. Grabbed my 70.3 hat and my garmin and managed to run all through transition and past all the people. After half a mile, I glanced at my garmin and saw my average pace: 11:30. Holy sheet...I can't hold that! Slowed it down to 12-something, but at .7 miles, had to walk for a few paces. Started looking for water. I hadn't remembered to bring any water, and since it was cold and the bike was short, decided to ditch it and go without. Now, I was thirsty. Walked through the water stop and was grateful they had gatorade! And not the yellow pee-flavored! It was a pass-fest though and the glory of not being passed was definately over for me. Mile 1 13:10 Mile 2 13:22 Mile 3 12:25 The last: 9:30 Around the mile 2 mark, I was passing a pretty house with lots of halloween decorations. They had a grim reaper, and I mentioned to the girl that was passing me that I have a race shirt with a grim reaper that I should have worn. She commented that she would have enjoyed it as she had been behind me for a long time. We chit-chatted and ran together for a while...she was a step ahead and I was gonna let her go when I noticed the big 40 on her calf. Hey, this girl could stand between me and hardware! Though I was tired and wanted to walk just for 10 seconds, I managed to stay with her, hoping to pass her to the finish line when we got close. It was not to be and she beat me by 2 seconds. Yay for her, this was her first race ever. But this was still amazing cuz it was the first time I've really felt like a COMPETITOR instead of a participant. Of course, I still suck overall, but I beat like 25 people today! Quite a change from being DFL by an HOUR the first time I did this race! What would you do differently?: Be thirty seconds faster, so I can finally break 40 in a tri! Post race
Warm down: Check results, yay! I got 3rd place in the old athena group! Now, we have to wait for the awards....man, that takes forever! Event comments: Longleaf isn't an obscure little race anymore. It sold out this year, and since its in my backyard, I'll probably always participate. The Oly is pretty competitive, with most of the field finishing just over 2 hours. Last updated: 2008-09-23 12:00 AM
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United States
56F / 13C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 199/224
Age Group = Athena 40+
Age Group Rank = 3/7
During packet pickup the day before, I never did find out what time transition closed or when the race started. Oops. I took a guess at 7 being a good time to arrive and I was right. Whew.
They made us pick up our timing chips before we could drop our stuff in transition...this was kind of silly as now we all had bikes to try to maneuver, but I was lucky to have a sherpa! Met a girl from my age group named Monica who was FIRED UP. This was her second race ever and she was all jitters. Her nervousness really made me feel really experienced. And since she had big fat tires on her mountain bike, I got to feel all smug about the ass-whooping I'd deliver :)
Running to the porta-potty, KEEPING warm was my warm-up, and I was glad I had on a long-sleeve shirt, sweatpants, shoes and SOCKS while we stood around for over an hour waiting.
They do a single-file start which is fine, but they wanted us to wait until the Oly folks ALL completed their first lap before they put us in the water. It was in the 50s and most people were shivering in their suits and swimcaps. The smartest guy I saw out there had found the generator and had his feet by the warm exhaust.
I set up my crocs at the water's edge. Post-swim transition area. Most everyone did this.