From the gun, I didn't feel like I had it at the start. Looking at the times I think it was more mental than physical. This field was loaded and I was suprised by the number of guys who just dusted me at the start. Looking at the results, the 8th place guy this year would have won last year. Eventually I got into a groove and tried to run with good form. Last year my time was 13:13 so I was :17 faster and I remember absolutely suffering on the first run. This year was much more comfortable.

As usual, I ended up in no man's land and ran by myself. I tried to gap up to have some to run with but I just couldn't match the pace.

With only a 2.2 mile run off the bike, my plan was to go as hard as I could the whole ride. Coming out of T2, I passed one guy quickly and gradually caught another guy. He was really pushing the pace so it kept me focus and I did everything I could to catch him. By about mile 3, I went by but I must have let up the pace because he then went by me again. Since he was riding aggressively and tha7 has been my problem this year, I just sat behind about 7 or 8 bike lengths back and would not let him go. My legs were killing me by the end (as they are today as well) but I stayed with him and had my best bike of the year. Looking at the results, the guy I was following took 4th at Shamrock so I am pretty psyched to hang with him (until he dusted me on the run).

Nothing, very good ride for me.

It is clear that I need competition to stay motivated. I fetl decent coming off the bike but not great. The guy I had been following came into T2 a few seconds in front of me and had a faster transition. By time I got my ass out of T2, he had a decent gap on me. I decided to build my pace through out the run...that worked like shit as at some point he put in a big acceleration and I was too far behind to notice. Next thing I know he is gone. Now there is literally no one in front of me and no one behind. So we slam the running legs into cruise control and stroll in...I really need to learn to be more aggressive.

Run hard dumbass.

Unfortunately, a group of people got lost. It looks like it was mostly people behind me as I think it only effected one guy that was in front of me which would have dropped me down to 12th. This is a fun race with a great bike and run course so it is shame they had this problem. Hopefully the race survives as it is obviously attracting a very high quality field.