This has been the run pace that I've had in my training. It feels like it "just happens" at this point. I didn't feel like I was trying too hard or that I was saving anything either.

At one point I was running side-by-side with a very young girl. We were on a 9 minute mile. Everybody who passed us going the other direction was calling her by name and sending encouragement her direction. I asked her how old she was. When she said "9!" I almost had a heart attack.

From the pictures that my wife took I can *clearly* see that I'm a heel striker! Oh crap! I better fix that soon.

My T1 time was ranked 51 of 68 competitors. Without looking at the race results I wouldn't have guessed my performance was that bad. Entering transition my heart rate was 178 bpm. I took the time to put on gloves for the bike. I'm a big guy on a road bike and my hands tend to get tired after about 5 miles. During the run I wore a different set of gloves to keep my hands warm.

I don't have the coordination on the bike yet to pull a water bottle from the cage, much less mount the bike on the run and put on shoes like a proper triathlete. Some day!

I walked the bike out of transition with my bike shoes in hand. Past the mount line I moved out of the way, put my shoes on, mounted the bike and took off.

I should have worn my bike gloves under the gloves that I wore during the run to shave some time.

I hadn't anticipated the rough road conditions. Between the cold and the jarring road my hands felt numb.

By mile two the athletes doing the long course caught me. There's a different sound when a tri bike passes you! An experience female competitor who obviously knew what she was doing put a huge smile on my nervous face. As she passed me she simply said "You're doing great. Good job!" She'll probably never know how much that meant to me at that moment.

I don't think I went as hard as I could have. I let the crappy road conditions get to me a little and my cadence dropped as the race went on.

Just before the dismount line I pulled over and took my cycling shoes off. I then jogged into T2 and racked my bike. I spend a few seconds collecting myself and getting a drink of Gatorade. I took a few steps away from my area before I realized that I was still wearing my helmet! Doh.

Next time I'll have more of a sense of urgency during transition.

I was happy that the second run was practically the same as the first. In my training sessions the second run has been about 30-45 seconds slower. Halfway through the run I picked out a person that I wanted to pass and did so in about a quarter mile. I felt like I went about as hard as I could have.

Nothing.

I headed straight to my wife and kids after I crossed the finish line and fetched a bottle of water. They were very supportive, braving the cold weather and early start time.


Faster times will come with additional training. I'm satisfied with the time that I posted.


Since this is my first race, I'm rating it "average" because I don't have anything to compare it to. The people were great and it felt very well organized.