Swam strong and straight first half, stayed with a big pack. On the second half, the sun was so bright right in my eyes. I couldn't see a darn thing. Stopped alot to look for the buoy, but couldn't see it at all, so just kept swimming toward the light. Seemed to work okay, but all the stopping slowed me down.

Tinted goggles tho I'm not even sure that would have helped!

Skipped my flying mount this race. I think my subconscious mind knew that my tight muscles would not like it. (When I got home later in the day, I tripped up the stairs, and recovered. But ouch, my tight leg muscles did not like the fast reaction.)

I wanted to get a top bike split this race, so I really went hard. I did get the #1 bike split in my age group, and #9 overall females. I'm very happy with that result!

I chanted "knees to the top tube, tight tight tight" the whole bike, except when going up a hill, sometimes I'd chant "work it, work it, work it". I always chant things in my head to stay focused!

Some freakin idiot pickup truck trailing a boat turned off a side street in front of me. I had to slam my brakes, my back wheel skidded, and I almost wiped out. DICKWAD! That cost me 10 seconds, and I lost third place by less than that!

Bring a rocket launcher for that DICKWAD truck driver!

I was pretty sure I was in third place at the start of the run. I watched my back alot during the run. I didn't feel as strong as my last race in the run, probably b/c I put so much into the bike. A woman sped past me right before the finish line and caught me off guard. I didn't see her coming at all! I made a mad dash to catch her, and but she was ahead of me when I went over the timing mat. I forgot that there are TWO timing mats, so slumped over in defeat. The crowd cheered me on to keep going, but it was too late - I had lost momentum and she won. She asked me my name, and then told me she's been trying to beat me all season. Turns out, she's the one who I beat at White lake by 7 seconds. Today, she beat me by 7 seconds. I sought her out after the awards to congratulate her. She was really nice, and I felt we made a connection. Nice to have a friendly rivalry.

Make a mad dash for the finish - always assuming someone is on my tail!!! I really was just holding on because I was tired. And I won't forget that there are TWO timing mats a the finish. What an idiot!

really tight muscles.


I feel a great sense of relief that I'm not crushed about missing the podium this race (I've had podium finishes in all my other races this year). I had a great race, had fun, met some nice people, including BT'rs love2tri (Alice) and a guy she was with (sorry, can't remember your name!). A great day. Oh, and Alice got 1st place in her age group - WAY TO GO!!! I wish I could have met some other BT'rs! I didn't know what you all looked like, tho!

I beat my time from last year by over 4 minutes. 1 minute on the swim, 2 on the bike, and 1 on the run :)