I started at the back and to the outside as people on here had advised. This turned out to be a bad idea as there were some really poor swimmers that were in front of me and they boxed me in. After I rounded the first buoy I managed to get some space. I looked up and saw the other buoy and it looked really far away so I decided to settle into an easy lap pace. My plan was not to waste a lot of energy trying to go fast on the swim since there would be limited returns for the energy expended.

I didn't get passed after the start, and I passed a few people, but since I started in the back of the pack that wasn't a big accomplishment.

I was neck in neck with this other guy in an orange cap most of the way and we kept bumping into one another. He got ahead of me at the second buoy, but that was actually good as the sun was right in my eyes and I had no idea which way I was going. I followed him and cruised into shore. Then had to run 300yds into transition.

Try starting in the middle of the pack. I think I would rather be jostled more instead of getting boxed in for the first 1/3 of the swim. It was frustrating going that slowly.

T1 wasn't too bad. I actually was fine with putting on socks and shoes. Time includes 300 yd run to the transition area.Everything went smoothly until I got to the mount line. I heard a voice behind me say "Hey Blue! Your chain!" I looked around. "Your chain is off!" he said. My stupid duffel bag mishap had made my chain come off. Good thing he told me though as I would have clipped in and fallen over otherwise. So I fixed it pretty quickly and I was on my way

Get to the race earlier so I can check my bike over.

Organize things better and practice transitions more.

Possible lose the socks.

I took off on the bike and felt good. I had not wasted energy swimming inefficiently and I started dropping people in my wave right away. I was cruising around 18-19 mph on flats for most of the course.

The bike was fun. I liked sighting people and trying to pass them or at leat not get dropped. I got passed by the super fast types in the wave behind me and by the 24 and under women at the end. But for the most part I don't think anyone in my own wave passed me and I passed a few of them.

I remember thinking around mile 12 "I am not going to come in last! I have passed like 5 people from wave 2!"

My tactic that I had planned before the race was not to go all out on hills. I got passed on hills a few times by people standing up, but I smoked them on the downhill while their legs were recovering and I never saw them again.It was a good strategy and having ridden the course once was really helpful

The bike was really fun!

Downed my whole 20 oz bottle of gatorade and water.

I stopped to dismount. No moving jumps for me since I figured I had had enough mishaps for one day.

I couldn't find where GF put my watch when I realized I was still wearing it right before my race. I had told her to put it in my shoes but it wasn't there.She hadn't heard me say "shoes" and just put it in my bag. Not her fault at all though though I blamed her when I saw her at T2. Bad boyfriend..She forgives me though :) I searched around for it a bit in my bag but couldn't find it so I just took off without.

Get there earlier so I could set up all my stuff the way I wanted and not blame GF for things that are because of my own bad planning.

I took off on my run and got a quick drink of water at the aid station right outside T2. Everyone in front of me was turning the water down but I went for it, and it was good and cold! I was happy I had had it.

I started passing a lot of the guys that passed me on the bike early on. I also passed a few people in my wave. I only got passed four times I think and it was all by the women coming up behind me.

I couldn't believe how slow everyone seemed to be going! I thought there was something wrong with me. I wasn't THAT speedy, but compared to what I expected I was fast. I think a lot of people left it all on the bike course. It started to get hot as the sun was up more by then, but I kept pace. I had no idea how fast I was going as I didn't have a watch so I just went with feel. I was smiling to myself as I passed two guys that were younger and more muscular than me. Not a lardass smoker anymore, are you? I thought.

I got a drink at the second aid station and then saw the 2 mile marker at the turnaround. I decided to pick the pace up a notch, and then quickly realized that that was a bad idea so I stayed with my pace until I saw the chute. I sprinted (more like jogged but it felt like sprinting!) into the chute and crossed the time pad at 1:33:34 (1:28:04 from my wave start). GF was right there and I gave her a big hug. I got a bit teary-eyed. I had done it!

Not much. The run was good. I would start training without socks though as I got a blister a bit of the way through the run. Not too bad since the run was short but might have been bad on 10k.

I sat in the shade and ate a banana.


Not much. I think I peformed well. I just need to lose more weight and train more.

I will definitely get to the next one earlier.

I think I need to mostly work on LSD and get my base up now that I have my first race under my belt.


My first tri! I don't have much to compare it to, but it was fun!