I was extremely comfortable on the swim. I don't swim fast, but I enjoyed the swim, except for the one guy who swam over me. I was all by myself at that point, and he just came up from behind me and over me. I'm not sure why he didn't bother to go slightly left or right, but oh well. The course paralleled the wharf, then turned and paralleled the end of it. At the end, there were a few swells that were kind of fun to be swimming on.

I tried to stand up before I could actually touch the sand which caused my calf to cramp slightly, but that quickly went away and I continued swimming until I was SURE I could actually touch.

Overall, a very enjoyable swim.

Learn to swim faster...

The distance from the swim to transition was somewhat long, but I got there quickly and out of my wetsuit in good time. Putting my arm warmers on was a little challenge as my arms were still wet. Shoes and socks were easy to get on after a quick rinse to get the sand off my feet. I figured I'd put my gloves on as I was leaving the transition area - big mistake!

I was walking with my bike trying to get the gloves on and managed to drop my bike. All of the water in my aerobottle was all over the ground. I finished putting both gloves on before even picking up my bike, figuring I wasn't about to drop it again. The brakes/shifter were tweaked to the side a bit, but were easily straightened with a slight tug. I thought to myself "this is not a good way to start the bike".

Put my gloves on before removing my bike from the rack!

After my little mishap in T1, I got on the bike, only to realize that the handlebars were off center slightly now as well. Not enough to really be a problem, just enough to be annoying. Of course I didn't want to stop just after getting on the bike and fix them, so I rode probably 15 miles or so like that before I decided I couldn't handle it any more and stopped and straightened them.

Lots of firsts for me on the bike. I'd never done a water hand up before - that went really well. I'd never had to ride into a headwind like that before. That really sucked! I'm not a strong biker in the first place, so riding into a huge wind, on a two lane road, with a bike lane that sometimes became fairly narrow, I wasn't at my most relaxed.

I knew my time back from the turnaround would be faster than on the way out, so I just focused on getting to the turnaround point without using too much extra energy. I ate 1/2 of a peanut butter and honey sandwich on the way out. I probably should've eaten at least part of a bar too, but I wasn't hungry and with the wind, I wasn't feeling overly confident about controlling my bike.

After the turnaround, things were a lot better. Except that I now had to go to the bathroom. I was apparently a little too hydrated and was really starting to get uncomfortable on the bike. From driving the course the day before, I knew there was a bathroom just right off the road at a coastal park. I just couldn't remember where it was. Luckily it wasn't too far and I was finally able to ride in comfort again.

I ate almost two bars on the way back, hoping to have enough energy for the run. I was staying pretty hydrated (I love my aerobottle!). I hit a top speed of 41 mph on a downhill - a new record for me. I may have been able to go faster, but I had to get out of the aero bars about half way down. The bike lane got narrow and a bit bumpy, cars were flying by me, and I was feeling like I had enough control in the aero bars.

Coming back in on the bike on the last part in front of the boardwalk, I saw my good friend Ashish who came to watch and take pictures. It was great to see someone I knew and have someone cheering for me!

A week and a half before the race, I had xrays done on my lower leg to determine if I had a stress fracture in my fibula. Turned out not to show anything, but still didn't know why my leg really hurt after my last long ride. Saturday, I thought about it some and realized that the last long ride I did, I had done a lot of standing climbs, which I'd never really done before. I decided not to do any standing climbs on Sunday and see if that would keep me from coming off the bike in major pain. Whether or not that was the trick, I don't know, but I came off the bike in good shape.

Overall, it was faster than I expected and about what I expected as far as the course.

T2 was pretty easy for me. Change of shoes, grab my gels and gummi bears, and off I go.

I felt pretty good on the run. I had energy, I was mentally doing really well, and I was starting out on my favorite sport.

Then I realized that the bike had done a number on my calves and achilles. They were really tight, which causes my feet to go numb. I've had problems before with tight muscles in my legs causing my feet to go numb, so this wasn't anything new, just annoying. Running with numb feet isn't to bad, just weird. I walked a couple of the short uphills as those seem to make the numbness worse, but other than that, didn't have any problems with it.

I was feeling good and there were a few people that I passed along the way. Most people were way ahead of me from having better swim and bike times than I.

For the first part of the run, there were still a few people that I got to see as they were coming back, including David. I got a quick hug and a kiss and we went our opposite directions - he was almost done, I still had 8 miles to go. But they were at least 8 miles of fun for me.

I had a mocha (yum, my favorite) Clif Shot along the way and water at almost every aid station. I liked the aid station at mile 4 (I think) where someone had a hose and was spraying people. Living in Austin and having done all of my training in the wonderful Texas heat, I didn't really need the cooling off, but it felt good and I always enjoy running through the water (sprinklers, hoses, whatever).

My friend Ashish met me at mile 10 and ran back with me for a couple of miles. He's a runner too, but he was carrying a backpack and his camera, etc, so it wasn't the easiest run for him. About that point I also started on the gummi bears. Gummi bears (only the yellow ones for me - love that lemon flavor) are great for some last minute sugar to keep you going. I tried them in my last marathon, starting at mile 20 and they seemed to work great. They worked great in the last couple of miles here too.

The end of the run is just torture. You have to run down a little boardwalk, then across the loose sand to the harder packed sand down along the waves. Under the boardwalk, then back onto the loose sand an up to the finish line. No way to really get a good sprint in to the finish, but it's a unique finish.

The swim and the bike! I need to get more efficient in the water and spend a lot more time on the bike. I just got my bike in April of this year, so I didn't have a lot of time to build up and get good at it.


This is the third year of this event. I think it is a good low-key race. I didn't care for the wind, at all, but that of course isn't the races fault. It's just always windy on US 1 in that area. I'm glad they got the bouys secured well this year - I wouldn't have wanted to swim extra like they had to do last year.