Seeded myself mid-pack, a big mistake as I'd soon learn. It was an MMA match from start to finish, I really didn't find clear water for more than a few yards at a stretch. I felt very constrained. The worst incident was when I got kicked in the side of the head by someone breaststroking so hard it moved/pushed my head and upper body ~1 ft. to the right. Knocked the air out of me, even though it wasn't a body blow. Glad it wasn't face (nose, mouth, eye), that would've been VERY ugly.

There were so many people breaststroking, backstroking, sidestroking it was tough to avoid people and visibility was nil in the murky, brackish inlet. Punching, kicking, both giving and receiving. I accidentally swam over a backstroker (sorry, couldn't see you in your dark wetsuit in the dark water).

Sighting didn't go too badly. Finally we passed the last major turn buoy and I hoped for a clearer shot to the finish - nope. Toward the end, I got sandwiched between a girl on my left and a guy on the right who ended up punching me in the side/back of the head 2x as he was stroking. Argh! Bad, bad, bad, I COULD NOT WAIT to get out of the water! Long run to transition. Passed a few, got passed, too.

So much for no regrets! Totally should've seeded myself differently. I think this one got the title for [my] Worst Tri Swim Ever.

Start farther up? Wear my goalie gear? Don't get roped into talking to people right before the start who inadvertently cause you to not thoroughly think through seeding strategy?

Found my spot quickly. I already had my cap and goggles off and didn't have a wetsuit to mess with, so I got right to the task of putting on my bike stuff and trotting out of transition.

Nothing, it was a typical T1.

Got on the bike and headed out to the main roads of the course, traversing a few speed humps along the way. When I got out to the main road I put the pedal to the metal, so to speak. I wanted to have a strong bike without blowing up and I also wanted to make up for the time lost in the swimming melee.

There was a TON of blocking (people not riding to the right) and people riding side by side. Frustrating since it wasn't a closed course and frustrating because it was tough to advance. There was a lot of "on your left!" going on and not just from me. On one of my passes, when I crossed the fog line, I went into a huge rut that I didn't readily notice since the rut was also white and I thought for sure I was going down but somehow I managed to keep 'er upright. Not too long after this mishap, DD passed me on her 'rocket ship', as she calls her bike. She's a speedy little thing!

It was a nice course, rolling hills with no major climbs IMO. I was steadily picking people off, making gains as I took in the surrounding area of the course. Kinda pretty - woodsy in some places, rural-suburbs in others, just a nice mix. After a turn, I spotted a fellow Athena ahead of me and I promptly left her in my proverbial taillights. I had a strong feeling she was my main competition and was the only one ahead of me based on the bikes in T1.

Dealing with blocking continued. I yo-yoed with a guy in a Dogfish Head jersey more times than I can count and also with racer 413. On one uphill, a lady called out to me, "on your left" just as we were nearing the top, and then she added, "see you on the downhill", knowing that as a dump truck, I mean, Athena, I do downhills much faster than she and on uphills I slow down a bit. Sure enough, not even a minute later I went blazing past her on the descent. We had a good chuckle at the quick exchange of positions. I didn't see her again.

I kept the speed up, trying not to let myself slack off. At some point I passed DL (not Dead Last, but a friend with the initials DL). Continued to mainly pass but occasionally be passed. Finally we were back to the road with the speed bumps heading back to transition. Took my right foot out of my shoe and rode with it on top, then, whoops! Ran out of real estate before the dismount line!

15/97 women. I'm proud of that and of my OA bike placement.

Hmm, not much. Definitely I would not recommend going in the pothole again! My word, that could've been SO ugly!

Heh, mistimed where the dismount line was, only had one foot out of my shoes. Dismounted with one bare foot, one shoe-ed foot, then immediately ran to the side out of the way, took off the other shoe, and ran in holding one while the other scuffed along attached to my pedal. Dork.

Quickly racked my bike, set down my shoe, took off my helmet, slipped into my sneakers, and put my hat on while trotting to the run out.

Get both my feet out in time, ideally, but it was no biggie.

Saw LT and I smiled because I saw she was winning the women's field; that's my speedy pal! Later I saw DD who told me to chase her (DD) down. Um, yeah, right. If only! I kept pushing myself to run fast and not let up, which must have worked pretty well because mile 1 was 9:36 and mile 2 was 9:37!

Felt like I was running through quicksand. I watched countless people I passed on the bike pass me on the run, per usual, but dang if it doesn't sting a little.

Thankfully the run was partially shaded because I think could've gotten pretty hot out there if it wasn't. I felt bad for the Olympic distance racers who started an hour after us, they'd be having a very hot run!

Got passed by DL with under .75 miles to go, dang it. Kept pushing hard to the finish, saw LT, DD and DL cheering me on near the finish. Decent run for me.

Ah, someday I'll learn to run faster. And/or lose weight. Or whatever it takes to be faster.

Chatted with AY, the local pro who swims with us at masters sometimes and LT. He won the men's race, no surprise there.

We were walking toward the transition area when we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker for LT to report to the RD's table. Turns out the 3rd place woman, who coincidentally was the woman LT was talking to at the beginning of the race, complained to the RD and basically accused LT of starting with the men's wave since she had such a fast time. Uh, no, sorry lady, she's just that fast. Check her for gills: maybe. Accuse her of cheating: not cool.

I grabbed a few snacks for later (I can't eat right after a race) and a Gatorade and a water (they got guzzled instantly) and changed into dry clothes to wait for the award ceremony. The majority of the group won some sort of award whether it be OA (LT) or winners of AG (AY, DD, B, S, me). Apparently half of the medals got stuck in customs, including the one of yours truly, LOL. They will mail them when the arrive.

Chatted with some of the Athenas again, including hockey girl who ended up getting 3rd AG in her first tri!

LT, P and I went to brunch in to a cute little place in town. They had a very nice Bloody Mary bar of which I enjoyed and we all had some good things to eat.


Age, weight, swim placement. Oh, the swim was just the worst. Bad, bad, bad. Lesson learned.