The concensus among the athletes was that this course was long, more like 1/2 IM length. I did a fair bit of drafting, and swam a bit harder than usual. My guess is I was somewhere in the 1:50 per 100 range, and not the 2:20ish recorded. Other than that, not a bad swim. The water was warm, visibility was nil, and my sighting was good. This is the first OWS I have ever done without the wetsuit, and I gotta say... I love the wetsuit :)

Make the water colder so I could wear the wetsuit.

I had a great transition until... I'm interested to see the times when they post them. It took me about 15 seconds from when I got to the rack until I was on my way. Passed the mount line, jumped onto the bike, and started pedalling. Then it went to crap. As I was trying to get my left foot into the shoe, it came un-clipped (damn no resistance speedplay's ;-) So I just bit the bullet, pulled over, and put the shoes on. Oh well, I'm sure it looked totally rookie, but whatever...

Umm..heh.

Overall, a good ride. Having not done anything since the IM, and absolutely no short-course prep in the past year I had no idea what to expect. So I just decided to push and see what happened. There were a lot of folks on the course, and when we started catching up to the sprint guys the traffic got a bit congested. For a while I was out on my own just cruising past a line of people, and then I got passed by a nice pack of about 7-10 mothereffers. Did I mention that I HATE DRAFTERS?! After they went by and I could get to the outside I went around them and pushed for a minute or 2 to try and drop them. About 3 or 4 minutes later they passed me again. So I tried again, and again, because I can't stand to give up position to cheaters. But... they kept on reeling me in so eventually I just let them go. Still, a pretty good ride.

Pepper spray the drafters.

A better transition. Times to be posted when I get them.

Nada

Out of transition, made a left onto the course, ran 50 yards, and hit the first port-o-john I found. Lost 30-45 secs or so, but this was my only piss-stop! Freakin' amazing...

It took me about 2 miles to get my legs back from the bike, so I just focused on keeping my turnover up and leaning forward. Grabbed some water at each aid station and ran what was comfortable. Started picking it up a bit at about mile four, and then kicked in the final 200 or so.

Nada

Water, stretch, etc...


Ummm..not having done speedwork in the past year.


For the "First Annual" it was organized and well run. The park easily accomodated the 1200 athletes and however many spectators. Definitely recommended.

I'll post the "official" times when I get them.