Started out way too fast trying to draft the first two ladies. Lost them in probably the first 100m and was by myself the whole time. Established a rhythm and looked behine me and couldn't see any other women. I decided to go my own pace and just relax.Once I rounded the buoys I ran into the back of the men's pack. There were alot of guys in distress so I tried to avoid them and not let their panick bother me. When I came out of the water I was told I was third in the women. (My timing chip came off in the water.)

Not lose the timing chip in the water. Try to pace a little slower the first 200 and find feet to draft.

Th transition area was about .33 miles from the water. I realized I was pretty far ahead of the next woman behind me and could not see the women in front of me, so I took it pretty easy transitioning. When I got to the timing mat I realized I lost my chip in the water. I yelled at a race official that I lost my chip and they told me they would track me manually and to keep going. This was probably one of my fastest transitions - of course, no wetsuit was helpful. I got my helment and glasses on quick. I had the bike in a perfect gear and was out of there fast.

Not lose the timing chip. Mount better...the mount was on an incline so it was a little bit of a struggle.

Again, no time for this since I lost my timing chip but the Garmin said I completed it in about 33 minutes. For me this was an excellent course. It was a three lap course with a good climb at the beginning and about 3/4 into each lap. I felt great on the bike...my cadence was high and I climbed fast around 12-14 mph with downhills around 35-40 mph. I think this was a breakthrough ride for me. I passed every woman in front of me and was in first in the women for the two of the three laps before I was passed by the woman that won.

Go a little easier the first two laps and descend a little faster without being afraid.

The dismount lines were not marked, so I started to dismount too early. Then I couldn't get one of my feet out before the dismount line so I had to transition with one foot in a shoe and one bare foot. Again, I had to yell at the race official to mark down my number.

Not lose timing chip. Get out of shoes faster and take mental notes of the dismount line.

I ran out of the transition area pretty fast and realized that I was the second place woman. I ran uphill with a guy and we chatted for a few minutes, then I dropped him. For some reason, in my mind, I thought the run was a lot shorter than it was. I ran into the desert thinking how much I hate off road running. I saw the first place woman pass me and passed the third place woman in the desert. The third place woman caught me as we exited the desert and turned toward the transition area. I started to speed up, not realizing I had another mile to go. I dropped her around the transition, but then realized I had another mile to go and there were no more water stops. I ran along the top part of the lake and eventually she passed me. Since I thought I would DNF the race for losing my chip, I didn't really care (if I had known they were manually tracking me and giving me some credit for the race, I would have chased her down). I kept my own pace for the last 1/2 mile and ran it in on my own...

Be more familiar with the course and not go hard so early. Not lose my timing chip and keep a watch on to track my time.

Walked around the finish area; light stretching; came home and hot tubbed for a few minutes.


No sleep the night before and home stress..


Sunset Racing did an ok job with this event. The course itself is great and the scenery is beautiful; however, the bike course was open to cars which made it difficult to navigate at times and a little dangerous. Race volunteers were awesome. Signage for the run was terrible and only 2 water stations made it a long hot day out there. Recommendations would be better signage for the run, keep runners, spectators and bikers separated and have at least one more water station with some kind of performance drink.