This was my first beach start for a tri. I knew I wanted to get a medal in my age group (top 10) and would need a solid start to get that done, and tried to position myself between the real racers and slower pack as I ran into the water. I made it to where the water was about waist high, let the first wave of guys in my wave start swimming, found myself a sweet spot and dove in. In a triangle course, I inadvertently stayed away from the pack leading into the first turn, and found myself a good 10 yards outside of the desired path. After some correction, I come around the first bouy in good position, find a rhythm and actually start to pass people over the next segment. I round the second buoy quite well, and start sigthing off of other racers heading back toward the beach. This leads to a delay, when I run into a line of smaller buoys meant to keep swimmers approaching the beach that herd us fish back into the correct path. This final adjustment probably costs me another 30 seconds, or so. Had I sighted better throughout, I may have been able to cut 60-90 seconds off of my time. When I later saw how fast (for me) my time was, I wasn't too worried about that. My goal was to be out of the water in 30 minutes, so to be done in 25:40 was sweet.

Sighting.... an eternal weakness.

Coming out of the water, I am looking for Yvette and a clock. I find Yvette as I am passing her on the sand, but don't find a clock. It's a pretty lengthy run, uphill, for a transition, but I try to stroll with everyone else's pace and take advantage of the hoses to rinse the sand off of my feet when I can. Once I get to the bike, putting on my socks and shoes goes ok, but could be improved.... I lose a second or two putting my tri top on, since I opted to swim without it

1) Buy a better triathlon top.
2) Swim with said triathlon top.
3) Speed up the socks and cycling shoe process.

Note to self - Practice mounting the bike with shoes already clipped in.

I pass 3 guys right out of transition, and am worried that I am taking off too fast. I want to average 21 mph, so I know early that finding that balance may take some work. When I turn right onto the country roads, I manage to find a good rhythm very early and follow my most important race goal for the day, FOLLOW MY NUTRITION PLAN. I am taking in fluids and gobbling down the gels as planned. Things are going well, and I am passing more than I am being passed, since some of the slower sprint distance riders are sharing the same bit of the course beginning.

I regret not making the 'practice' session offered by the race organizers a few weeks before, as I am not quite sure what the 23 miles on the road have in store. So I try to make notes of what types of roads/hills people are riding through as they come back the way I am coming. Specifically, I make note of the hills, as I know this will be place that I will make up some time. My plan is to push it up the hills and that plan works today.

Heading back toward T2, I see Daniel first, then Melissa and Yvette together very close to transition. I manage to get out of my shoes ok and hop off the bike in a smooth fashion.

Learn the course beforehand, and ride harder on race day.

Coming into T2, I didn't manage to see a clock, and I intentionally am not racing with the Garmin today. I'm not quite sure how I'm doing, but with a goal of 1:07 for the bike split, I feel like I may have bested that by a minute, or so.

I opted not to go with the speed laces today..... well, forced to opt that way, as I couldn't find mine the night before. So I have to go with the traditional lace up routine, which is fine, but I really wanted to have a T2 time less than a minute.

Yankz!

I blaze out of T2 on a bit of high, and am travelling faster than I should. I pass 3 people within the first 100 feet (some sprint distance folks I am sure) and on a pretty good pace for the first mile. Maybe too good. My legs start to feel a bit worked at that point, so move away from forefoot strikes and roll my foot starting at the heel for the next five. This is not ideal for me, though I do manage to 'pull' my feet off of the ground a bit better this way. Regardless, I am trying to finish with an average better than 7:45 per mile. Without the Garmin I have no idea what my pace is, but it feels like 8 minutes per mile or better, for what that is worth.

The oddest thing, is that I make it to the turn around point without getting passed. I think to myself that I must be making good time. I don't think this will hold for the rest of the race, but I make it a goal to get passed as little as possible. This revolutionary moment is when I realize that I am no longer out here to merely finish.... I am racing. Which makes since, since I am in an Olympic distance race, 3 months removed from Ironman Arizona... I should be in shape to do that.

Heading back into the park, with about 2-2.5 miles to go, I finally get passed. Another half a mile later, a pack of 3 guys from my age group (I see on their calves as they come right be me), make a move to get by me. I increase my speed and shadow them, the 4th in a line of M30-34 contestants, but after about 400 yards, it is clear that I can't keep pace. So I drop off, and watch the third drop off in another 100 steps or so... he is now my mark... that guy that could be keeping me from a 10th place medal (since awards go 10 deep). With, I am guessing, one a half miles to go, "Mark" has a 50 yard gap on me.

Making our way back onto the paved paths, I set my sights, up the pace and start to chip away at that gap. With less than a mile to go, my mark has cracked and I blast ahead. With 1/4 mile to go, I am up to a sprint, pull back one spot from another runner who had passed me, and finally.. my mark. Hopefully this will get me into the top 10.

Out of the trees and into the clearing to the finish, I see the opportunity to pull back another of the age group pack that swallowed me two miles (or so) ago. In a full out sprint, I am closing in and have a chance to pull back one more spot. My effort doesn't pay off, and I come in 2 seconds behind the 8th place finisher in my age group, averaging 7:35 per mile on the run.

Run harder.

Drink vitamin water, and bury my feet in the sand, and wait for the awards ceremony to get my medal..... which they don't have...... which they tell me will be mailed to me...... which I later get an email about, telling me to drive to the sponsoring bike shop to pick up.... which is about one hour from my house. I'm not too pleased about that.