Started on the far left to try to swim shortest distance to the first turn buoy. Instead, my goggles fogged, which added to my already sketchy sighting abilities, and I zig-zagged all over the place. I'm sure I added some distance to the whole thing. However, after the first turn buoy, I stayed on the buoy line and felt great the rest of the way. Passed a lot of people in the second half, which is unusual for me in the swim.

Stick to the buoy line from the start.

Quicker than usual for me because I always have trouble keeping my balance for a bit after coming out of the water.

The best of times, the worst of times. I was having a great ride - the best I've had in a triathlon. At 19 miles, I was averaging 22.6 and feeling great. Unfortunately, at 19 miles I got my first ever flat during a triathlon. My front wheel hit a rock (I can't believe I didn't see it) and put a rather significant hole in one side of the tire. I used my Pit Stop can to inflate the tire and plug the hole. Unfortunately, the hole was so big, much of the air and sealant went out the hole before it sealed. By that point, the tire was perhaps half-full so I decided to use my CO2 to fill it the rest of the way. Well, I've now learned not to do that because the CO2 was so cold, it froze the sealant that had plugged the hole, which made it shrink, and it shot right out the side of the tire. So then I had to change the tube, but my CO2 was only partially full since I had used part to try to top off the tire. I filled it as much as I could, but it wasn't even half full. I nursed it the last five miles of the course while still trying to go as quickly as possible on the wet road while trying to avoid any bumps that would give me a pinch flat. By the time I made it back to the transition area, my bike computer still said 22.6 mph with a 1:06 rolling time from transition to transition. The flat cost me 12 minutes to change and I don't know how much time over the last five miles, but those are the breaks. Overall, it's too bad I got a flat, but I'm very pleased with how I rode otherwise. After the race, I used my pump in the transition area to fill up the tire so I could ride to my car. According to my pump, there was only 30 pounds of pressure in the front tire. Yikes.

Do not try to top off a tire with CO2 that has been sealed with Pit Stop.

A bit slow because I needed to unload the tube and tire changing things I had stuffed into my pocket to get going after the flat.

The whole bike flat incident took the edge off of the run so I decided to just try to have a solid run, but not push to hard. I ran the first mile in 7:30, the middle ones at 7, and the last two at sub-7 for an average of about 7:02. I was very pleased with the run since that's the first time I've raced a run in many months and it all felt reasonably comfortable.

I would have pushed it if I hadn't had the flat on the bike.

I heard many good things about Chelanman and it certainly delivered. It's well-run and has a terrific course in a wonderful location. It was a bit of a bummer to actually get rain in Chelan in July, but it wasn't really a problem. The overall temperature for the race was terrific with the overcast skies.