I got a pretty clean start and was able to swim in the clear most of the time. Swam for a long time with the same "pack" of women, just to the side. They did a good job of sighting, so that was useful. All the women started three minutes back of all the men, and I was surprised I didn't feel like I wasted a lot of time going around the BOP guys, which I usually do. I was swimming a very direct line between the buoys, actually touching a couple of them, and it seemed like most of the guys were swimming further off to the right. I even started to doubt my sighting, as some swimmers seemed to be 20-30 yards away to the right, but this was my fastest time by over two minutes on this course, so must have been doing something right. Some of those guys must have done way more than 1500m! Maybe they told the slower guys to "yield" or something??

Not sure.

Fairly good transition. I didn't waste any time. My only issue was just past the mount line when I failed to clip in and had to stop and try again. Not sure why. The bike shoes are fairly new (bought them in early June) and I haven't ridden with them outside much. Plus the bike leg began uphill on a curve. I swerved and had to get off and mount again. Ugh!

Practice clipping in with these shoes a bit more!

I felt very strong on the bike and this is my fastest both for this course and Oly in general by just over 3 minutes. I kept see-sawing with a group of three women who seemed to be members of the same tri club.They weren't in my age group but were strong riders who seemed to be going to right pace. Bigger women so I kept passing them on the uphills and being passed on the downhills! (Gravity doesn't do you many favors when you are 115 pounds.) One moment of excitement when my aerobottle ejected vertically over my head after I hit a big bump at about 4 1/2 miles. A nearby volunteer said she would get it so I just carried on. This meant all I had was my frame bottle (with Nuun Energy drink) so I had to wash down the gu with that. My stomach was not too happy about that, for some reason.

Secure my aerobottle with a rubber band or zip-tie so it will not eject! That is a first. I have seen (and had) torpedo mount bottles eject, and even lost a few frame bottles on Vietnam's amazingly pot-holed roads, but I have never seen an aerobottle fly up. As I mentioned, some of the rural roads on this course are ROUGH! Just glad my tubes and tires held up.

Again, I didn't waste any time. But I think I was running quite slowly as it is painful right now to run barefoot. I probably should have kept my bike shoes on instead of showing off my flying dismount.

Probably keep the bike shoes on. I've been having problems with Morton's neuroma, which basically means my toes and the area just under them hurt when I run. And what really is painful and aggravates it is running barefoot on a hard surface like concrete. Ouch! My new bike shoes are not as difficult to run in and probably would have protected my feet better. But have gotten in the habit of the flying dismount and just did it without thinking.

Not my best run. Legs felt okay after the bike and no cramping, but I was doing this in Hokas--right now they are the only shoe I can run on pavement on for prolonged periods without a lot of discomfort. Plus the gravel--if I hit that in my racing flats right now, might not be able to finish. The Hokas are comfortable but I'm used to running in much more minimal shoes (Kivara or other lightweight Saucony trainers) and find it difficult to get beyond an easy jog in them. Feels awkward and my legs fatigue much more easily. I also had some issues with nausea and sloshing stomach in the first half of the run due to having to wash down gu with Nuun rather than water after my aerobottle ejected on the bike leg.

Just push it a little harder anyway. If I puke, I puke. So what? My best run on this course is almost 1:30 faster. If I had been within a minute of it, could have gone under 2:30, which has been a long-time goal.

No real warmdown. Just walked around for a while.


Being semi-injured, which affected the run to some extent. Other than that, just a few random silly things like having trouble clipping in and losing the aerobottle.


This is easily one of the most beautiful races I have done and, personally (okay, I am biased, since it's my "hometown" race) I think it is one of the most beautiful races in the world! Probably the only negative is that as the race has grown, they have added many, many categories now (sprint, Oly, aquabike, du, relays) plus prize drawings, so awards drag on and on. My race started at 8 AM, I finished around 10:30, and I think I didn't get my AG award till 1:30; awards probably wrapped up at 2. It can be a long day for children, elderly parents, and pets. But otherwise--it is a well-organized event that showcases the best of what this area has to offer. I'm so sad that I will be leaving Oregon (not my choice) and don't know if/when I'll be able to do this event in the forseeable future. But I was happy to have a good race and finally win my AG here this year,