I planned to cruise the swim and I did. I started in the front but off to the side. Perfect spot for me. I quickly found clear water and caught a rhythm. The first loop went well except for having to swim into the sun. I climbed out of the water and ran for the mat. Running after swimming wasn't a good thing. I took my time getting back into the water, stopping to wash out my goggles before starting again. The second loop felt longer. I swear they moved the bouys while I was out of the water. Still, I kept swimming easily and finished feeling good.

I think I could have pushed it more. I was wanting to conserve energy, but maybe held back too much.

It was a long run/stagger up to transition. Of course my suit got stuck. I had to sit down and tug it off. Then my normal slowness issues. And my hair was stuck and I had to redo it so it would fit in the helmet.

New hairdo? Learn to get out of that suit faster? Not sure if there's much hope here.

This was not my ideal course at all, even without the wind. Hills and wind are not fun for me. The first 5 miles were shared with the sprint division until they turned around. Up to that point it was pretty crowded. I passed a few people on mtn bikes and beach cruisers. After the sprint people peeled off, I was by myself. Even though I knew I was pretty slow, I kept cranking it and waiting for the turnaround. I was hoping for a sweet tailwind to push me home. It was better on the way back in, but I wanted more help than the wind could give. I took a gel at mile 3 and 22 which worked out well.

Get a faster bike... More on this later. It was an average bike leg for me.

Not bad this time. High-fived Bill coming out of T2 and headed out on dead legs.

OMG! Whose idea was this? Wow. That was the longest hour and a quarter of my life. I started well; first mile around 10 min. The next mile was slower and then it started to unravel. My IT band issue with my right knee started again into the third mile. My feet were going numb and started to throb. In all, it was painful. I walked several times, but finally finished. Thank gawd.

Run more and HTFU.

As I crossed the line, the chip retrievers grabbed my leg. Someone else handed me a water bottle and a finisher medal. Then I found Jeremy and his dad. I tried to remember to stretch a bit, but should have done more.

We headed for the food tent and got our lunch. I was starved after this race (over 3.5 hours), so I wolfed down that food. We stuck around and chatted with a few people waiting for the awards ceremony to start. I could tell that my FIL was wanting to leave, but I wanted to hang out.

They were raffling off a sweet tri bike and you had to be present to win. I wanted to see who won it, mainly out of curiosity. We took the gear to the car in an attempt to seem to FIL like we were leaving soon, but I stood outside the car to hear the winner of the bike.

I heard Bill say that when he drew the winner, he noticed it was someone who had been in Mario's class this winter (!) and that the person didn't have a tri bike (!!). Then he announced MY NAME!!! Yep, I won the tri bike. Some people thought that I had left already, so we started yelling and I started running. Somehow I found the legs to run.

The bike is a Trek Equinox 7 and I'm going in this week for a fitting. I have never won anything in my entire life. Seriously, if there was a drawing with 3 prizes and only two other people present, I'd still not win. But this makes up for it. I'm so psyched!


Many things. Tile, gravity, genetics, no HTFU... And maybe needing a new bike. :)


This was a great race! There were tons of volunteers and everything went very well. For an inagural event, it was superb. Of course I'll be back next year.