Boy, a half mile swim sure looks different when you aren't touching a wall every 25 yards! This was my first OW swim and I just wanted to take it easy since I have panicked before in this lake. Accordingly, I lined up at the back and let the more competitive swimmers go ahead. This worked for me. I wasn't the last in my wave, but by the time everyone had spread out, I could maneuver around swimmers I wanted to pass. About halfway into the swim, some of the faster swimmers from the later (and last) wave started to catch up. These guys were pretty aggressive so I lost some of my momentum when I got hit or plowed into. Had to dog paddle a few times because I was startled, but I never panicked. Just got back into my groove.

I heard one woman yell at one of the guys to stop hitting her. We also caught up to a lone swimmer from an earlier wave and I asked her if she was doing okay. She said she was so I swam on.

Not much. If I were a competitive AGer, perhaps I'd start more to the front. But I wanted a calm swim, and I had one. My time probably reflects that I wasn't in full on race mode, but that is what the bike and the run are for. but

T1 was a run from the beachto a parking lot where the racks were set up. They had two baby pools filled with water where you could rinse your feet as you ran from the sand to the asphalt.

Thought I did pretty good here. I practiced and just dried my feet as I was putting on a shirt and then quick into the yanks laced running shoes. I stood up for this and I didn't use socks. At my last race where I couldn't find one of my socks, I learned that I don't really need them.

I had a pretty good T1, but looking at some of the times, I know I can improve. Perhaps I'll get less modest and not put a top on over my tri top.

I've ridden the course a few times, and boy does it go faster when you are racing! This was a very good time for me. I need to work on the hills, but I did pretty well on them. My beef is people passing me on the hills. Being a good little tri-er, I always drop back so I'm not drafting but the person in front of me then slows down so I end up passing them back. This happened several times. Very annoying. They ended up passing me eventually but it burned me up a bit.

I several race officials handing out drafting penalties from the back of a motorcycle. I also saw some very stupid biking. The roads weren't closed to cars (but they were restricted somewhat) but I saw some stupid guys passing two abreast going up a hill and in the opposite lane of traffic. What if a car had been there?

Okay, this is already long, and I'm making it even longer. When I passed anybody, I'd always call out "On your left" and then say something encouraging. I just about ran into a guy who was passing me when I was going to veer left a little bit to avoid some patched asphalt. I looked behind me and the guy was right there on top of me. Thank you,God,for making me look. Otherwise our races would have ended badly.

Do you want to hear how stupid I am? I set my aero bottle in backwards and realized out on the course that the bottle was too far away for me to reach the straw. I'm not comfortable enough to reach down and grab a water bottle, etc., so I took in no water during my ride.

Had a bit of a run to get to my rack. Helmet off, cap on, race belt on, swig of water since I didn't have any on the bike.

Run faster? Had water on the bike so I didn't need to take a swig at T2?

This wasn't a very good time for me. I walked the aid stations and took on water. Took on an icy cold wet towel at one of them. Although I tried to run the whole course, I just couldn't. Had to walk a bit. I always tried to say something encouraging to those I passed and those who passed me. At about the two mile mark, a woman called out "On your left" and I said something nice to her like go for it or something. Well, I noticed she was in my age group (telltale K on her left calf) and I said something like "Hey, wait, you're in my age group, you have to stay behind me." OMG, she started walking! I told her that I was just kidding, she needed to go for it, but she said she needed to walk. After about 30 seconds, she took off again. Good for her!

Toward the end of the run, I was walking and one of the course volunteers yelled to me to run because I only had two minutes to go. I thought, "Yeah, I can do this for two minutes," and off I went. The killer is that a woman from my age group passed me at the finish line.

Run faster.

Drank some water and ate some nutter butter bites.


It is all about the training, isn't it? This is my first season of tris and when I look at where I started and where I've ended, I've made an incredible transformation. I'm not fast and I didn't lose any weight. Who cares? I have two new loves to add to my first love of running. I had never swum any distance in my life. When I looked out at that lake and saw the swim course, I wasn't panicked, I was calm because I knew I could do it. Before this season, I'd never ridden a road bike in my life, and I certainly never rode a mountain bike 18.2 miles. Yes, many are much faster than I am and the competitive side of me doesn't like it. But the incredulous side of me is amazed that I just raced 18.2 miles.


If you are ever in Shreveport, LA, in early August, this race is a must-do. The swag for the $65 entrance fee is incredible. We got two shirts, sun glasses, tri-shorts, hat, socks,and an incredible duffle bag. It sold out in 12 hours or something like that. It was very organized. It was fun.

Perhaps the larger world outside of Shreveport routinely goes to races like this, and if you do, you are lucky. We'll probably move next summer, but I already told my husband that I'm coming back next year. He totally understands as he was there yesterday.