Big Creek Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I'm not sure why I always like to start up near the front. Maybe I like the abuse of swimmers climbing over me. Maybe I like to see how long I can hang on the feet of the fish (believe me, it's not long). Or maybe I like to think that if I start at the front I can finish at the front (Ha!). Anywho, the start wasn't to rough. I got passed right out of the gate by a few people, but surprisingly nonviolently. Not too soon after the start I feel some water coming into the left eye of the goggles. what? These goggles never leak! Took a moment to adjust and was golden after that. Soon after I was settling into the groove, one arm ahead of the other.

I rounded the first buoy relatively flawlessly and started toward the next one. It was about this time that I remembered how badly I had to pee before the start. Do you know how hard it is to pee without stopping? I tried unsuccessfully a few times, before I resorted to dropping the pace a little to help, uh, get things started. After that I was able to get moving again, all the while thinking, wow, this is odd. I apologize for anyone who may have been drafting behind me.

I started passing a few caps from the wave ahead of me (teams) before the second turn, so that was good to see. Continued on smooth and controlled the rest of the way in, secretly yearning (ok, maybe not so secretly) to get on the bike.

Not have to pee. Other than that I felt good. I do need to make a conscious effort to swim harder. Most of the time I find myself settling into an easy pace. The only times I have ever pushed the pace have been sprint distance races. I wonder what it would be like to leave the water completely exhausted.

I couldn't just step out of the wetsuit. I had to bend down and physically remove it from both my ankles. Maybe I was out of practice. Other than that I felt speedy.

Not fudge around with the wetsuit so much

Ba-dump! Ba-Dump! Ba-Dump! Feel that? Yup, that's the rough road trying to ram my saddle up my a$$. Fun stuff.

Other than that I'm pedaling along, cutting through the wind, and generally happy that I'm on the bike now. Within a short amount of time I'm starting to pass a few people. All is normal in the world. Then I bend down to take my first sip from the aero bottle and......ba-dump! Ouch!! Yup, straw through the lip and it's bleeding. Thanks Mr. bumpy road! That's what I needed to perk me up in the morning.

No worries though. I continue along, enjoying the morning, although I was feeling a little sluggish. I couldn't quite turn over the gear I wanted fast enough and I knew the split was going to be a little slow. It was too bad because it is a really flat course, designed for speed, which I just didn't have today. Oh well, it may have been a blessing in disguise.

Overall a pretty uneventful ride that was over quickly. Funny how you get so used to 3-4 hour rides, making 25 miles seem awfully short.

Go faster. Duh.

My pet peeve is when people cannot rack their bike in the same spot they started in. I had one in my spot and had to rack mine basically on top of it to squeeze in. Then I had to reach around my wheel to grab my running stuff and throw it on the ground in front of my bike. Threw on the shoes, grabbed the rest and was off.

Not double handle my stuff

I ran past my family just out of transition and gave them a wave as I went by. Legs were feeling pretty good at this point so I went out hard, hoping the lungs would keep up. For some reason the only times I ever get winded is running off the bike. Even stand alone 5ks where I'm really pushing the pace its not that bad.

The lungs indeed kept up and I started to run down a few people. I saw quite possibly the laziest volunteer on the course. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything they do and realize I wouldn't be racing if it were not for them, but this girl was sitting down in the middle of the pavement, pointing the direction of the turn with one arm and texting with the other. Really?

Soon enough the first loop came to a close. I saw the fam again and flashed what my sister described as a goofy grin and waved. I hit some uneven ground at about the same time and stumbled forward before catching myself. They laughed. That's me, smooth as sandpaper, baby.

The second loop was much more crowded than the first since many people from the waves behind me were now on the course. This made for a much more enjoyable second loop as there were many people to pass. I wasn't paying attention to my times, but I wouldn't be surprised if I negative split the run. The textateer was still sitting on the ground with her phone the second time around.

I pushed the last mile particularly hard, not wanting to leave too much in the tank. I was passed by someone in my age group not too far from the end. I tried to keep up/catch up but man, he was in a dead sprint too. I crossed the finish feeling thoroughly spent and pleasantly surprised at the time.

Not much. Good run. Actually a 10k PR. I really need to do a stand-alone sometime soon.

Typical warm-down. Walking, talking, and eating.


I hate trying to make excuses, especially when I PR. But I did have a heavy training week and then spent the last few days moving. That might have had something to do with it.


This is a good race and a good, fast course. Lots of speedys showed up today. I was really surprised to see where I finished overall and in my age group. Much lower than expected with the time I put up. Oh well, it was a 2 minute PR for me and that's all that really matters