I had trouble finding my groove the first lap. The distance between the 2nd and 3rd buoys was very large compared to the distance between the other buoys and it felt like I was swimming to the 3rd buoy for about 5 hours. It just refused to get any closer. I would look up, think, "Wow! Almost there", swim for another 2 minutes, look up, and the damn thing looked exactly as far away as it had been 2 minutes ago.

The second lap I found my groove and it went pretty smooth. So smooth I decided to try and take care of that nagging call of nature that had been in the back of my mind the entire swim. Unfortunately I've only been able to pull off the peeing while swimming maneuver once in my entire triathlon career (during my IM where I was extremely hydrated) and so I arrived on shore still needing to pee. Fortunately there was a bathroom right after the swim exit. Unfortunately, my swim time includes the bathroom break as well as the jog up the giant hill (remember this hill) to transition.

I would sign up for a triathlon in November so the swim was wetsuit legal. I would figure out how to pee while swimming. If my 3 year old can do it I should be able to as well.

I had a difficult time getting my Garmin on and had to redo a safety pin on my race bib. Out of practice!

Since 2006 I have discussed buying a tri suit top. It still hasn't happened.

Bike training paid off. As usual, a ton of people passed me, but this time around I got a lot of them back on the 2nd loop. It was pretty hilly out there and hot. I made a mistake and missed the water stop after the first loop and had to go the last 20-30 minutes without water or Gatorade (remember this!)

Stop and refill the water bottles.

I was really freaking thirsty and spent too much time looking for a bottle of nonexistent Gatorade in my transition spot and/or finding a volunteer to tell me where I could find some water. But bonus! I didn't forget to take my bike helmet off!

JUST GO MORON!

Well this sucked. Luckily it sucked for everyone! I mean I barely broke an hour on a 10K and still finished with the 13th best run split! The first lap went okay... but it was hotter than hell and hilly AF. In fact the giant hill I mentioned running up at the end of the swim was waiting for me again at the end of each loop. I could feel leg cramps coming on as I climbed this hill so I walked it. The entire second loop I just tried to drink as much Heed as possible and stop the onset of full leg cramps. So I walked most of the uphills and ran the downhills and the (very few) flats the rest of the way. Basically a suffer-fest.

Stay in bed when it's this hot.

They had cool towels so that was nice. Did some stretching, ate some bad pizza, packed up and went home.


HEAT. Missing the bike water stop. HEAT. Not being able to use my wetsuit. HEAT.


Overall I'm pleased to have finished my first triathlon in five years without injuring my back! After discussing with my coach I also think I put in a solid effort in tough conditions.