ever lose your goggles or have other major goggle problems in a race

Same here, goggles swiped off of my head. They were pulled down around my neck though so I didn't lose them. Goggles coming off was not nearly as bad as being smacked in the head!

I got to my second tri ever and found my goggles were broken.  I did not have a back up pair.  A volunteer loaned me a pair she had, on my way to transitoin I gave them to my family to find the volunteer and return them for me. 

In a swim event last summer I was headed out into the glare and being the slowest person there was still headed out while the fasties were heading back, I  smacked heads with someone and my goggles got knocked off, still on my head but off my eyes.  Only took a couple seconds to readjust them and keep going.

All through my high school and college swim team days, we never wore goggles, it was a non issue.  In fact I don't ever remember knowing about them.

After a 2 hours practice session, riding home on the sports bus, we were all practically blinded by the chlorine burn.

If I lose my goggles, I just keep swimming, no big deal.  I have had them around my neck, and simply tore them off and threw them away.  Just kept swimming.

I've done some pool training without goggles to help relax.  I was actually impressed how minimally it impacted my swim without goggles. 

...I am up in the Northwest, so visibility in lakes is sometimes very little.  I just close my eyes in the water, and 'whip' my head when I am sighting to clear water out of my eye sockets so I can see.

I did get my goggles kicked off of my face once, but didn't lose them because I swim with two caps.  I put my goggle straps between the two. 

I wear two caps because I have long hair.  The first cap is a thin nylon one where I tuck my hair into without getting pulled.  The second cap is your usual neoprene one. You don't have to have long hair to wear two caps, obviously.

During one of my HIM races, I had a goggle strap continue to loosen.  How this happened is beyond me...well, I do know.  It was aggravating as I periodically had to stop to cinch it back up.  Ugh.  That race did not go well.  (laughing)  Everything that could go wrong, did in that race, but I didn't let it stop me.  Crossing the finish line was well deserved on that one.  LOL.

If these guys can swim without goggles, we should be able to, also:

I've never lost my goggles, but I did have to remove them during a 1 mile OWS race. The suction on the goggles were so tight, that they caused a piercing headache about 15 minutes into my swim. I removed the goggles and swam the rest of the race without them. I experienced a momentary salt-water sting but it was really very minor and I had no issues swimming with my eyes open during the race.

Along these lines, there was a 9 year old swimmer this past weekend that completed her 200 IM with her goggles around her neck because they slipped off on her dive.  Pretty impressive to watch the composure of a young swimmer with adversity - she never missed a beat.

I never wore goggles as a kid, but I would be in a bad way if I had a goggle malfunction in a triathlon because I would likely loose my contacts.  Not a big deal on the swim, but you wouldn't want to be anywhere near me on the bike.