The swim was a beach start. The beach and water were very rocky, I need to toughen up the bottoms of my feet. I started a bit closer in the pack to help pace myself. There was a lot of congestion until the first turn. I couldn’t believe how fast I finished the first lap, which made the second lap feel really long.

Actual Swim Distance - 1200 meters

I made it out of the water and into T1a where I had help removing my wetsuit. I threw on my runners and made the long, 700m uphill, run/walk to T1b. Approximately 5 minutes later I arrived at T1b. I took my time, had some water and gel, and then jumped on my bike.

I start off great on the bike. I pushed hard and passed a bunch of people. I saw my friend Jenny at each turn around and was hammering trying to catch her. After about 28 kilometers, I had closed the gap to about 50 meters. All of a sudden I see her hit some gravel and go down hard. I stopped and tried to help. She was really dazed and was holding her arm, a few cars pulled over and I told a man to drive to the end turn around and tell the volunteers to come pick her up. I waited for a few minutes and then Jenny told me to go finish. The other car waited with her and there was nothing else I could do so I left. Jenny ended up breaking her collar bone. The last 12 kilometers I pushed hard to try and make up for the 5 minutes I lost.

Actual Bike Time - 1:18:27

Nothing, I would stop for anyone in the same situation.

At T2 I changed my shoes and grabbed my hat and water bottle belt and was off. Note: Do not take water bottle belt ever again. It was heavy and gave me a stomach ach.

I found the run really hard. I haven’t been running much and have never really done hill work. I walked up most, well probably all, the up hills. I’m glad that it hurt because I will remember how uncomfortable that feeling was and will never go into another race under-trained again.

The race was my first Olympic distance. It was well organized and challenging. I had fun after chatting with Nick, Terry, and Marina, thanks for the hospitality guys.