Starting out I wasn't worried about going fast. If I found some feet I would just stay behind them and draft. I was trying to stay on target to the turn buoy. I ran into more people than normal but was just swimming to the first marker.

turning the first corner we were going right into the sun. I couldn't see the swim maker due to the blinding sun but there were simmers on both sides of me so I figured I was on course. When I tried to look for the course marker I could see a long line of swimmer disappearing into the sun. As I got to the last 40 meter of that length I could see the marker. I wasn't perfect with my line but not too bad. I figured that anyone that was in front of me at that point was a good person to draft off because all the slower people would be behind me by that point.

Tuning the last corner I start to zero in on my race pace. I was focused at that point. I was surprised to be passing people. I never pass people but I was sure that I picked of 3-4 swimmers. At the last marker we turned to the beach and I finished strong.

Nothing. I had a great swim and executed my swim plan.

coming into transition I tried to count heads. It looked like there were 5 guys in there and some could have already been on the bike course. I worked through things as fast as I could but I knew it was a slow transition for a Sprint Triathlon.

Hard to say...The wet suit took a few extra seconds, socks took a few extra seconds, bike shoes took a few extra seconds, GPS watch took a few extra seconds, and the bike helmet took a few extra seconds.

I had one guy right ahead of me coming out of T1. I passed him just before the 1 mile mark. He saw my GPS watch come flying off and said something to the effect of "That sucks". I was considering going back for the watch but told the other guy I didn't need the GPS watch then I put my head down and sped away. I was looking for the next guy to pass but didn't see anyone. Where was everybody? There were at least 5 guys ahead of me at T1 and probably twice that many counting those out of T1 before I got there.. So I pushed the pace while keeping everything smooth and fluid and kept watching for riders. It was about 4 miles before I saw anyone. The guy was in a zebra striped tri suit. I knew I was going faster than him and focused on catching him. As we approached the 6 mile turn around the leaders were coming back the other way. I was happy to see that that they were only about 1/4 mile ahead of us. I was surprised to see that I was in 3rd place. At the turn-a-round I went into a hard surge and passed #2 and set out to catch #1. I knew if I caught him on the bike that I would have good chances of being able to beat him on the run since I am always in the top tier of run times . I road hard. I raced up the hills and peddled easy coming down. I was riding really hard. I was going slightly harder than the pace I had practiced but knew I needed to catch this guy on the bike. I didn't see him. I kept riding hard but he was out of sight. At about 3 miles I had to easy up slightly to save my legs for running.

hard to say....I road about as hard as I could until the last 1/2 mile where there were lots of spectators on the course. I eased up there to get ready for the run but possibly could have close some of the gap if I had road hard in the final half mile.

coming off the bike the legs were jello. I had trained for this though and knew I would be alright even though I may take a bit of time on the run to transition

hard to say. Not much. I was trying to work fast to close a gap. #1 was gone before I got to T1 so I had a lot of ground to make up.

I finally caught sited of #1. He had a big lead but I was gaining on him. I was running at a pace that was 10-15 sec/mile faster. He was 45 seconds ahead of me though. My legs felt very heavy from the hard cycling. I went out about 20 sec/mi slower than planned. At the run turn-around I picked things up a bit but kept it slower than planned. I was trying ti catch the lead. I was running well and he was fade on his run. with about a half mile to go we passed some volunteers on the course that said 1/2 mile to go. We then got to a short out and back and the leader blew right by it and went onto the finish. I followed him by didn't have enough time to catch him. With the half mile I would have had him but with 400m I came in 5 seconds behind him. It was a great race.. #1 run time of the day.

I would have yelled ahead to the leader that the cones were a turn around so that he wouldn't have missed it and we both would have done 3.2 instead of 2.9 miles. I could have set a faster pace and I could have run down the leader in the lst 400m, but I was happy to just stick to my plan and not worry about who was 5 seconds in front of me or who was 5 seconds behind me.

I felt so go and had so much energy that I just walked around and talked to lots spectators at the finish. I would have talked to the race winner but he looked like he was hurting and needed to take a time out before talking to anyone. One spectator said it was nice to see me out there running fast but still smiling and having fun.


I choose to race on the bike and just rely on being a stronger runner than most and being able to pull a rabbit out of my hat at that point. I would have been able to take a minute off the run if I had gone conservative on the bike. I am guessing that I cut a minute or more off the bike so I will just say I did really good and have no regrets.


I was happy with this race. It went as a race should. It wasn't perfect but everyone was doing there best and that is what counts.