The "washing machine" freaks me out, so I stay out of the mix. Started to the far right of the field at an angle from the first buoy. Got to the first buoy with just a few swimmers from the wave (Athenas, all Age Group Women, Relays). By the final buoy, I was finishing and swimming through lots of caps from the two prior waves.

I think my sighting could have been better, and I was checking where I was going every 10 strokes or so. Really should have been 15-20 strokes in between sightings.

I left my running shoes and socks with a towel to the side of the boat ramp as we exited the swim. Since I was riding with them and don't have clipless pedals yet, it made sense to put them on there since there was a 250m run on concrete to the transition area.

I took a little more time getting on the bike than I should have, but not bad for me.

One one hill, my gears jumped and I shifted down too quickly and had no more gears to finish getting to the top. And it wasn't that steep of a hill either, so I just need more hill work. Had to hop off, so I stopped for a drink and walked a few steps.

I also don't think I was in high enough gears during the flats because I was trying to spin efficiently and not fry my legs before the run. Some of the Olympic folks passed me like I was standing still. Downhills were fun.

More riding and more hill practice.

I ride in my running shoes, so I only have to take my helmet and gloves off and put my visor and race belt on. Good transition for me.

I walked the majority of the hill out of the park. Just could not get the legs to go. At mile 1 marker, my watch said 12 minutes. Yuck. Once I got on the main road and out of the park, I ran a lot more. I ran when I felt like running and walked when I felt like walking. Never saw another mile marker, so I don't know what my other splits were. Once we got in the shade again, I ran a lot more. At the point where I could hear the announcer and music through the woods, an Athena passed me so I tried to keep up with her and ran to the finish.

Run more hills. Walk less. Not let another Athena pass me!

They had a cooling tent set up, so I sat under the cold water for a few minutes and drank water. Really did not want food yet but I really wanted a shower, so got my stuff out of transition and headed for the shower hoping it wasn't crowded. No one was in there - awesome! Had it all to myself!

Finally got in the food line after pushing more water and powerade. Started to see white spots again in my line of vision while waiting in the line for food, so I know I was close to heat exhaustion again like the day before.


Being in the heat the day before. Not enough hill training.


I really like this race. It's only about an hour away, very little traffic on the roads, only about 500 entrants total for both races, and a nice venue. I dropped 10 minutes from last year's time, so I am happy with this race.

2nd place Athena, 49th overall out of 117 women. The 1st place Athena beat me by 15 seconds. The third place Athena must have been right behind me, because I only beat her by 9 seconds.