The gun goes off, and chaos ensues. The entry-way to the water was too narrow, so everyone got bottlenecked together when we started…and we stayed that way the entire time. The course was a short triangle around two bouys in a small lake, and for the first half of it, I was adjusting my goggles (in truth, for the first half, the right eye of my goggles was filled with water.) I finally got somewhat into a groove on the last stretch, but only because I made for the outside of the pack and found a little open water. When I got out of the water, I was right next to two of my friends (who had started next to me too.)

I need different goggles...and I would've gotten to the outside of the pack sooner.

I got out of the water feeling like I’d just survived the swim from a capsized boat. My legs felt heavy as I ran over to my transition area. I got down to business, and fumbled around a fair amount, but was finally off.

I think it's just a function of doing it more often...I hadn't practiced this T, so I feel OK about it.

off to a rough start as my frame-pump fell of my bike right out of the gates, and I had to double back, but after that it was great. The bike course was pretty hilly, but manageable, and gorgeous. I got into a groove and averaged about 19mph. The only guys that passed me (who hadn’t passed me in the water that is) were a couple of guys on $2000+ bikes, so I felt OK about it. Me and another racer got into a serious game of leapfrog for the last 8 miles or so, though. In the home stretch, he turned to me as I was passing him one last time and asked “how’s your run?” Unfortunately, I had to tell him the truth: “horrible, you’re going to smoke me”

I think I probably could've pushed it a little more.

Hopped off the bike and ran to my station. Shoes, helmet, sunglasses off; shoes and hat on in about 30 seconds (EZ laces are a beautiful thing). And I was off.

Nuthin

I felt like my heartrate was soaring, but I was feeling OK leg-wise. Kept a steady pace, but in retrospect, I could’ve pushed it a little harder. Got passed by one of my friends in the last 1.5 miles (all of them finished before me, so at least I got a nice cheering section when I came down the home stretch.)

A little stretching, some food, and a whole lot of hanging out. My four friends and I hung around the race site until after they’d packed everything up…just enjoying the day, and talking about the race. The general consensus was that this was a blast…we’re currently planning our next race for sometime in the next few weeks. I’m hooked.


a plethora of things.


I rate this as my best race ever because it's my first, but also, because it was just a riot.