I go out with the last third of the wave and avoid the bodies for the first 30 seconds or so. I haven't done any significant swimming in my wetsuit and I feel so buoyant and fast with it on! After a half a minute, I start feeling the feet of swimmers in front of me and pop my head out and swim around them. I am actually passing people! I am exited and everything is going well.

I pop out my head to sight and I am almost to the turn point and I am beginning to really feel out of breath. I get back in my stroke and head for the turn and really start running into traffic. I start to breast stroke so I can navigate better, but it is still a mess. I finally get around the point, and go back to free but I feel worn down and keep needing to get more breath.

I am in the center of the pack of my wave now, just past the halfway point, when the fast swimmers from the next wave are plowing through. The second swimmer that passes me kicks me square in the chest and I roll over gasping for breath. I can't even move for a few seconds, just try to get some air in my lungs. I recover and start alternating between 30 seconds breast stroke and 30 seconds free and finally get to the ramp.

I know that my major problem was not pacing myself. I am not the best swimmer in the world and the fact that I caught and passed people ahead of me should have made me realize I was going too fast too early. But instead, I just thought "Wow, I am so awesome with this wetsuit on!"

I should have also had more open water practice, but I did alright. If I wouldn't have gotten kicked, I would have finished stronger, but that is what happens in open water

Once I was out of the water and up the ramp, I was a little dazed and walked up the ramp. Once I was in the transition area, I ran over to my spot and had a pretty easy time with my wetsuit and getting my stuff together. I wasn't going extremely fast, but not too slow either. I got my bike and jogged it over to the starting area.

Make myself run as soon as I was out of the water. I was tired, but I should have pushed myself a little harder.

I was going strong in my third (biggest) ring from the very start and it felt good to be riding... until I hit the first big incline. As I tried to drop down to my smallest ring, it wouldn't change. I am starting to go up the hill and come almost to a complete stop as I try to peddle in the high gear. I get a little wobbly and swerve left and right, probably scaring everyone who is quickly approaching from behind. I have to get off the bike and manually move over the chain. As I get back on and start to climb in low gear, I am both embarassed and stressed out. How can I climb up the real hills if I keep having problems like this? I start to think of what I will tell my sister in law when I quit and cannot finish. I am trying to think of a good excuse to give to my wife when I call her and tell her I didn't finish. As I get to the top of the incline, I am still thinking that I won't be able to finish.

I am able to upshift to the big ring with no problem after I am finished climbing the hill, but decide to try to downshift on a flat to see if it is working. It doesn't work again, but I discover that if I use my right foot to manually push the gear changer (I am sure it actually has a name, I just don't know it), it will suffice. Just what I want to have to worry about at the base of a hill, looking down and trying to use my foot to change gears.

I make it about two thirds of the first hill heading back up away from the lake and I am hurting. I push myself to the top of this hill and get around the turn to see more hill as far as I could see. I see someone a ways ahead on the side of the road walking their bike. I get off and do the same. In retrospect, I don't know if I would have gotten off and started walking if I didn't see someone else doing the same. I think I alsmost felt as if it was acceptable to get off and walk, that it was hard enough that this was ok.
I walked for about two minutes and got back on and kept on climbing. I was being passed heavily even when I was back on my bike, but everyone was very encouraging. At this point, I knew I would be able to finish and that there was no reason to be embarrassed about having trouble. I alternated between riding for a while, walking for a minute or two until I made it to the turn onto the down hill trail.

I figured I would make up some time on the down hill trail, but found I was not very comfortable flying down a dirt trail like I was on the road. I thought I was still doing okay until I hear this little squeeky voice say "on your left" and I watch a 11 or 12 year old girl pass me on a DOWNHILL! This really fired me up and I decided to let it go and starting catching some people, but that little girl was fearless! I never did catch her and certainly didn't see her again once we hit the hill.
I went through the same cycle of climbing and walking on the second loop until I got to the point where we had went back down on the first loop. This time, we went left and continued uphill, on dirt. I got a gatorade and drank it and really felt a lot better. I was able to steadily finish the climbing in the dirt until we got to the top and back on the road. I knew that it was all downhill from here and I decided I would take advantage of the weight that was making the climbing so hard.

I tried to get into an "aero" position, which was basically dropping my head to the point where my chin was almost at my handle bars. It felt nice to be passing people, so good that I probably was going faster than I should have on some of the turns. But I was going to enjoy this while it lasted and flew down the hill back into the transition area.

I would definately have trained more on hills. Riding on an upslope for a few minutes a couple times in each ride did not even get close in preparing me for this course. I will make sure and train more next time.

I also wished I would have stuck it out longer with walking the bike. I know in reality that I would not have been able to go the whole time without walking, but I do think that I gave in too early and would have been better off it I had pushed it.

I got off of the bike and had trouble getting to a jog because my legs hurt from the ride. But I got to my spot, hung my bike, took off my helmet and headed toward the run entry.

Been in shape enough to really put full effort into running to and from the rack.

I was jogging along okay until I hit the stairs and tried to jog up them. Bad idea. I got to the top feeling wasted already and had to walk the first part of the run just to be able to jog. I walked at a good pace for a while, started jogging until I got to a hill, then walked again. At this point, I was relieved because I knew I was close and didn't feel embarrassed when I had to walk, so I probably walked more than I should have.

On the way back, I started to feel better and started jogging. Soon enough I was back at the expo area, going towards the long run way. I was passing people who were walking and feeling pretty good, only to be passed again by these people as they sprinted down the chute. I just held my pace and crossed the finish line with a huge smile.

I need to practice more actual running, not just on a treadmill. I think I give up too easily some times and walk when I could push myself to keep running/jogging.

It is amazing the amount of emotion that overtakes you when you finish. I got my finisher's medal, got a cup of water and then posed for a picture. As you can see, I am smiling as big as I ever have. Just looking at that picture, I can still feel that excitement and joy. And that is why I am going to do these for the rest of my life!


Not enough training! I obviously had some problems due to inexperience, but the biggie was not really knowing how much I needed to train for this. I will do better next time


Best possible race for a first timer. The course is harder than other sprints (I have read) but the atmosphere is unbeatable. I will definately be back!