I knew there was a current, but being new to OWS I had no clue how strong. I was about to find out. I started in the back on the outside left (course was clockwise) and went slowly to get my breathing correct. This worked well for me and I did the crawl non-stop for the entire race. I reached the turn-around point in just under 12 minutes and thought, "wow, this isn't so bad". I had no idea were I was within the pack, but I kept getting run into, and cralwed on, and kicked... I dug it!! Everyone should go through it at least once. It forces you to regain composure quickly after the rythm has been broken.

Well, the return leg took over 20 minutes, but I was swimming smartly, if not well, by keeping my breath under control and allowing it to dictate pace. Yes, I was slow (near the back of the pack), but I had much more energy left than in my first tri last month (a shorter swim in much easier conditions). Ran onto the beach and headed to T1 in good spirits, and in decent shape.

Not much... more time in the water. I've only been at this since January, so I've got tons of room for improvement in the months and years ahead, should I continue on the triathlon route.

Better than the first time, but still need a bit of work. 74/111 is not good.

Have more urgency in the transition area. I was very relaxed and almost non-chalant about it all.

I took it very easy on the ride so as not to blow up on the run. There was ~2600 ft. of overall climbing with very little flat terrain. In hindsight, I should've pushed much harder, but "live and learn".

Speaking with other competitors after the race, all said this was a very tough bike course. Virtually no flat terrain (perhaps 1 mile out of 6) separated the contenders from the pretenders. I wasn't with the contenders! ;-)



Train more on the bike. I don't spend nearly enough time in the saddle, at least not enough to improve much. Also, my bike is a Trek 1500, which is basically a step up from an introductory road bike (it's quite heavy), but it's what I'll be using for quite some time, so my only option is to improve the engine... me.

uneventful. sucked down a Hammer gel, took in some water, and off I went running on a pair of 2X4's. 76/111 sucks!

Once again the run started with my legs feeling like logs. The first mile was flat, but now the winds were kicking in pretty good along Crissy Field and we were running into the teeth of it. Oh Goody!! As if that weren't enough, after about 1 flat mile the course took a cruel turn up the stairs leading to the Golden Gate Bridge. Climb, climb, climb... get off the stairs and climb some more. Hell ya, this is fun! For those who haven't been to the GGB, it's about a 200 ft. climb up to the bridge in a very short distance. Then, when on the bridge, it's still a climb as the bridge is not flat. It took the first 2 miles at about a 9:15 pace before my logs became limber (not lumber) enough to feel like I was actually running. I passed a number of folks on the bridge and decided to kick it up a notch and hold on best I could. Suprsingly, my legs were now working well and I was able to dodge the picture taking tourists who were oblivious to any athletes running on the bridge. It's hard to be nice when you're struggling to maintain pace and a camera wielding linebacker steps into your area, but I did my best... only a couple of small swear words! ;-)

Back down the damn stairs and onto the Crissy Field flats for the final fast mile to the finish. Wind at my back and legs hanging in there led to a strong finish, at least for me.



MORE BRICKS! This is my second tri and both times I've had nothing starting the run. I eventually work through it, but I'd like to improve on the first couple of miles.

Grabbed some water and recovery drink, and took a nice walk with Rachel to keep the legs loose. Got back to the finish area and grabbed some food while watching other competitors finish.


Swimming skills (lack thereof) and lack of saddle time.


This was a well run race, especially so as it was the inagural event. I'm hoping to make this a yearly "must do".