Standing on the shore just before my wave started, I looked down the beach about 100 yards, and there is Aaron with his 4' long camera lense trained on me. He is standing in 2 feet of water 20 yards off the shore. My first thought was to run down there and pull that expensive camera away from the water, but instead I just smiled and waved. Free advice: If anyone is in front of Aaron's camera lense, do not 'pose' unless he asks you to. He prefers an unknowing prey when he is shooting. He reminded me of this several times throughout the day, in addition to constant reminders that he thinks my bike is ugly. But, I digress.
Well whadayaknow? I actually had a swim game plan and executed it. Standing on the shore, it sure in the hell looked like a lonnnng way around the buoys. The longest portion of the quasi-trapezoid was right into the wind/swells, which was kind of fun. As our wave took off, I decided not to sprint knee-high into the water, as this was instant HR jackage, and I wanted to keep it low to help with my normal swim-breathing problems. I waded until I was nipple-deep and then started off a nice slow pace with some of the other dudes in the back. I caught most of the pack early on and got to do some thrash-about swimming, which was fun too. I don't know why the swells and the mosh pit was fun for me, but I really did enjoy it. As we got about 400m into the swim and were approaching the 1st turn I slowed to sight and get a deep breath and my torso dropped. And my feet touched the ground. WTF? I stood for about 3 seconds and then remembered I was in a swim. I looked to my left on my next stroke and saw 5 guys walking as I passed them. That was weird. Anyway, I kept going and rounded the 1st buoy and headed down the long stretch to the final turn. Once a-freaking-gain, there were yellow caps in front of me and of course we were swimming to the yellow buoy's. So, every time I sighted, I thought I saw the buoy closer, only to realize I was seeing someones head. Nice. Last buoy rounded and I was on the home stretch. I saw the shore in the distance and a beautiful rainbow. I smiled. Then I frowned. Rainbow = RAIN. Duh. I put that out of my head and I concentrated on rolling my shoulders and a nice nasal exhalation and made some good time. I swam long after people were wading in (and passed them) and kept on going until my hands dug into the ground. I popped up and let out a yell and sprinted up the hill. As I passed the masses there to cheer us, I made a comment that brought some laughter to them. "Man, I should have skipped the Masters class this morning!"
Off I went to T1.

Not much, really. Anything sub 2:00/100m is fine for me. Exhaling through my nose worked really well. Rotating my shoulders kept me from raising my head and gave me a nice rhythm. Brian giving me last minute swim instruction helped as well. For a non wetsuit OWS, I was pleased. Seriously, the rolling waves and mosh pit was a blast.

Run through the sand right to the people with hoses and washed my feet off. I ride sockless and didn't want anything on my feet. Nice gesture by Dallas Athletes for this perk. I ran with Tim (he finished the swim with me...it was kind of cool actually. I hung out with him pre-race, got chipped with him, finished the swim with him, saw him several times on the bike and also ran with him for about 3 miles) and we wished each other well as we entered T1. As usual, there was a group of people outside transition near my bike to tell me that Brian was ahead of me. Hello, the dude is a fish. I will never make it out of the water ahead of him, thanks. Anyway, I remarked that they were supposed to be supporting me, not heckling me. I got my aero lid on, stuffed 2 GU's and a cliff bar in my pockets, strapped my Garmin on, sunglasses on and away I ran to the mount line.

Pay my supporters more?
It was a sub 3 minute transition, so I wasn't too unhappy about it. I wanted to keep total transition time to <5:00 and I accomplished that. Touchdown.

I stepped on my left shoe/pedal and got mounted and started pedaling out. Course knowledge would have helped here. Normally, I will spin for a minute to let my HR come down and get my legs going, then strap my feet in. I did what I normally do and then came that long upgrade right out of transition. It wasn't a hill, per se, but it was definitely an incline and went for a ways. As I am spinning along, not really concerned about putting my feet in my shoes, Tim comes flying by laughing like a hyena. Thanks, pal. Anyway, I managed to get my shoes in and then reeled him in. I met up with Gary shortly after the start, too. I came up and said, "On your left", noticed the rider was on a Cervelo and had some sweet ass wheels. I heard the roar of the disc and just smiled, as I love that sound. The rider made some kind of comment and I kept going. I got bogged down for a minute and the rider came up on me again and did a legal draft (nicely done, Gary), and then I noticed it was him. I mentioned something about having an eargasm when I heard his disc and he remarked that he only waited for me so I could hear it. We talked about the swim distance being yards and not meters and kept plugging away. Then, it was time to get going. I stepped on it a little and burned by Karen as she was spinning at what had to be a 95-100 cadence and said hello. She caught me a few minutes later as I went up a hill (she always kicks my ass on the hills). I heard a voice behind me, "Are you a ballerina?". It didn't register, but I was sure I heard those words. Again, "Are you a BALLERINA?". WTF x 2. I didn't even know it was her behind me, so I turned and saw her grinning from ear to ear. Then it dawned on me. I was riding toes-down, which she reminds me of every time we ride together. She must have said it to me 10 times during our century ride together earlier this summer. I laughed hard and thanked her for the reminder (again) and we rode together for just a minute. My HR was in place and we had just crested a roller and there was a steep descent coming up. I bid Karen adieu and said, ""Wish me luck!" and hammered the pedals. I hit 37mph (not wise on wet roads, but you only live once, right?). I didn't see Karen after that, but I am sure she wasn't too far behind me. I got passed by around 8 people on the bike, and I passed more than that, which was nice. My nutrition and drinking was spot on, and I was most pleased with my average cadence, which was almost exactly where I wanted it to be.

I'd say get better at hill climbing, but I am too lazy to do that. We did have our share of rollers and I noticed my MPH pegged at 15-16 several times. The rain didn't help AT ALL. It cost me at least 1mph over the course, as I rode cautious most of the time. It wasn't a torrential rain, just enough to render my Oakleys useless and make my S-bend aero bars make me think twice about riding too aggressively. Still, I don't think the wind played a role, which was a nice change. I didn't hammer the bike like I initially planned to due to the precipitation, but I wasn't displeased with my time.

I know the time looks slow compared to some of the racers, but I actually executed this transition very well. Putting my wet socks on wet feet (it rained in transition, as well as out on the bike course, strangely enough) took me an additional 15-20 seconds, but other than that, I was happy with T2. My flying dismount kicked ass. I passed 4 people standing and unclipping and when I jumped off my bike, I was still going pretty fast but didn't miss a stride. I actually heard several ohhs and ahhs as I did it. I think that was the only time I felt like a polished triathlete the whole day. HAHA

Notadamnthang.

I started off the run...running. My legs felt great, probably because I didn't push the bike as much as I anticipated and I did stretch my calves right before the end of the bike. I caught a couple of guys wearing Dallas Athletes gear and passed them. Then they caught up with me and asked if I minded pacing them, since I was running their speed. I looked down and saw my Garmin read 9:20/mile pace and said sure. I kept it at the pace for about the first 1.5 miles and my HR dropped dramatically. Hmmm.. might I speed up? Just prior to this, I saw Tim going the opposite way (again) and he said he was going to catch me in a minute. A few minutes later, as I am non-chalantly running and chatting it up with the 2 dudes from DA, I get smacked on the ass by someone behind me. Not the "congratulations" slap, but the "I am trying to hurt you" slap. I sort of turned and saw Tim grinning and he said, "Toldja!". I laughed and kept going for a bit and then Tim started leaving me. Well hell, it was time for someone to pace me. So, I caught back up with him and off we went at about an 8:30/mile pace. We were cruising along, walked a couple aid stations just briefly and then I remember telling him that my HR was still in check, even though I lopped 1 minute off my pace for the last several miles. I said, "148...good". He looked at his wrist and said, "219...hmmm." I was floored! Then he said that was his total time so far and that he had no interest in bothering with a HR. That was hilarious. We had a nice steep hill to go up at the end of the 5th mile and this burned Tim's legs up. I kept going and actually sped up. I did the last mile in 7:34 and came through the finishing chute with some pretty good momentum, for a non-runner. I enjoyed the run a lot.

Not pace the DA guys for the 1st couple of miles. Although, had I ran my regular 8:30 pace, I would have only finished 2 minutes faster, so I am not whining about it. I kept my HR below 160 starting the run and dropped it to mid 140's before kicking up several notches.

I ate watermelon, 1 slice of pizza (still not a fan favorite of post-race pizza), 1 piece of brownie (thank you to Tommy's wife!) and drank some water. Gathered around the BT'ers, which included, but was not limited to: Me, Brian, Aaron, Steve, Marcy, Bonny, Gary, Jen, Craig, Tommy, Tim, Sabrina, John, William, Jonny, Karen and John. I am sure I missed a few, but suffice it to say, we showed up en masse and represented BT well!


Genetics.


This was a fun race and I would do it again. The course was nice (aside from the chipseal on part of the course) and the support was good. It's like a BT union every time I race around here and that makes this whole triathlon business that much more enjoyable. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on, heckled me, cat-called me, kicked me in the swim, got passed by me on the bike, passed me on the run and encouraged me in the final fun through the finishing chute. Oh, if you make it over to Jeepfleebs album, he took some awesome shots of a lot of the racers and the dude can take a picture. If you do view his album, and I highly recommend you do, look toward the beginning of the slide show for a wonderful shot of me applying glide to my left nipple. True poetry.