We massed for a group run start instead of going in waves. I aimed for the back 1/3rd of the middle and off to the side since I knew just about everyone would be blowing by me. I got a good rhythm going and told myself to just run my race. About 2/3rd the way though the mile, I was caught by a woman who was just a bit faster than me so I used her to push myself. I’m glad I did because, for me, a 9:30 mile is not too shabby.

Lose some weight and practice my running more.

Transition was located in a grassy area surrounded by tall fencing with a gate at each end. The gate for the swim and run was quite wide while the one for the bike course was narrower and actually caused a bit of a bottleneck when groups of people all tried to get on or off the course at the same time.

I did my best to just grab my bike and keep going while enjoying, for possibly the first time, the fact that I was riding an old mountain bike without clipless pedals The grass was slick with moisture and I saw at least a couple of people slip. From the mass start, it was also a little bit chaotic with all the people trying to clip in near the entrance to the street.

Probably my best transition to date so I'd just get more efficient at the switchoff from run to bike.

Since we were all bunched up from the group start on the run, there was drafting galore. I tried not to as best I could but there was no way that you couldn’t when people were sometimes riding five across a two lane road. I didn’t get passed too often and the overwhelming majority of the time when I did, it was on the left. Sadly, this was a nice change from my last race.

The road was a bit rough and I actually hit one pothole big enough that I was glad to be riding my good ole thick tired aluminum framed mountain bike under me. The lack of shocks made my nether regions shudder when I hit it but otherwise, I was able to avoid most of the major problem spots.

This was finally the race when my fitness outstripped the gears on my bike. Granted, I didn’t have any more gears to go into because it wouldn’t switch to my biggest of my 3 rings, but at least I felt like I had more to go. I got a little ego boost from this fact, if I do say so myself!

Get a better bike. :)

Again, it's nice when you don't have to mess with your shoes and can just dump your bike, grab your hat and goooooo!

Enjoy the fact that I didn't have to change shoes a little bit more than I did.

The final run was both agonizing and exhilarating. Thankfully, it was still mostly overcast, which kept the heat down. It was also fun hearing beach goers marvel at the masses of people out running so early or cheering us on.

It has been at least 15 years since I ran anything close to 4 miles at one time (most of my training runs have been around 3 miles – I know, I know…). Couple that with a bike and a run beforehand and you have a recipe for trouble. Thankfully, I had learned enough (and been told by my mentor group repeatedly) to know that I should just run my own race. I quickly settled into a run 3 minutes and walk 1 minute pace, which seemed to work fine. People streamed by me during the course of the race and I just dealt with it while vowing to run more in the future. One woman was even sweet enough to ask me if I was okay. I made her laugh and told her I was “just fine, but fat.”

As I approached the finish line, my poor fiancée (now, wife) was greeted with a “I hate you for letting me do this” which cracked up the first responders standing nearby. For some reason, she didn’t find it nearly as funny as I thought it was.

During the last 100 yards or so, a woman yelled out to me to move my ass so I could hit the finish line before 1:30. I didn’t have much left but I waddled for all that I was worth and juuuust beat it. What a feeling!


It's all about weight loss and practice on the run.

Walk around and visit the post race bagel, danish and fruit table. I also got some Zico coconut water samples, which I promptly gagged on after trying. Guess they aren't for me.


It's all about the run baby.


Even with the swim canceled, I enjoyed this race. Though the road could use some work, the run along the beach definitely made up for it. It also seemed like a lot of the local tri teams came to the race, so it was fun watching them interact with each other and eventually those of us without teams.

I don’t have much to compare it to but I would definitely consider doing this race again.