Terrible! I panicked after about 100 yards. I was hyperventilating, and I never could get a breathing rhythm. I switched to sidestroke and did that for about 75% of the swim portion. I never considered dropping out - I would be so ashamed of myself if I couldn't finish this swim. Even with my panic, the sidestroke didn't really slow me down that much - I probably would only be 2 minutes faster if I did the crawl. But my heart was racing as I started the bike ride.

Overall, I was 17th woman out of 27, but for the swim I was 25th out of 27. Swimming is my weakest event.

Pre-swim the area. I think the brownish green color of the water freaked me out, and the chop was different than I was used to. There were very short little waves. I think I am used to longer waves. I haven't panicked on a swim since 2005!

I needed a more swim-specific warm-up. I was thinking beyond the swim to the bike ride. That was a mistake. Take it one leg at a time.

They did not time the transitions. All transition times are added on to bike times. I think I passed a few people in the transition area. I was in the second wave. The third wave was relays and first-timers. Most of them passed me on the swim.

I was still a bit panicked so I was just trying to calm my breathing.

I passed people on the bike. A few men passed me but no women did. I caught up to one 40-yr old woman. But she would drop me going up big hills. I would stay with her going down, but I would pass her on the flatter stuff. On one flat section, she had a car pull along side to hand her water bottles. She was clearly drafting off it. At first it pissed me off, but since she was in a different age category, I let it go. Then I sprinted up to her so I could catch the draft too. That caused the car to take off.

We were back-n-forth for a while. She told me she had dropped her chain twice in the race. When we started up the final series of big hills, she dropped her chain again. I never saw her again. I think she was cross shifting (big ring in front crossed to big ring in back).

Overall, I was 17th woman out of 27, but for the bike I was also 17th out of 27. I guess I am an average female bicyclist.

More hill training, what else? I was pleased that I did so well in the flatter sections. I was surprised that I could pick up people there. I think everyone was so psyched for the hills that they were slacking elsewhere.

But I wish I could have been stronger on the long long hills.

Gravel lot for T2 which caused me to slow way down as I came in. I didn't want to flat a tire.

nothing

Loved this run. I was hoping to do it under an hour and I did much better than I expected. At first I could see 2 very tall thin men who looked liked serious runners. I was keeping with them which surprised me. I could that one stopped briefly to stretch so I figured he was cramping. I expected him to really take off. But he didn't. When I passed him, he said he was worried about the big hills to come so he was conserving his energy. He never passed me so I don't think his strategy worked. I passed about 6 people on the run, and 2 passed me. On the steepest climb, everyone ahead of me was walking and I wasn't gaining anything by running, so I switched to a speedwalk up the hill It used alot less energy to go the same speed. But it does interrupt your rhythm a bit. When we turned to make the final climb, I could see a woman about 75 yards ahead of me. I pushed and closed her to about 10 yards when she topped the hill. She finished ahead of me by 30 seconds.

For women, I was 17th overall out of 27 , but I was the 12th woman in running. So running was my best event!

Push harder in the earlier miles.

It felt great to finish this race. With all the hills, I really feel like I accomplished something. I grabbed a water and walked around. Looked for my family (they were not there yet - I finished earlier than we all expected), and I chatted with other racers.


weight.


Such friendly people! Everyone was psyched for this race. Lot of local people doing the race. Lots of people like me - average athletes who do this for fun. Good positive helpful attitudes.

I overheard a volunteer say there were 79 bikers, but I see only 76 finishers. The others were aquabikers. There were quite a few who registered but did not race. I believe everyone who started finished the race. Hooray. Final results include the relay teams too.

I was 17th woman out of 27 so a middle-of-pack finish.

17 71 Maureen G Anderson Waterboro ME Women 45-49 21:43.1 (73) 1:30:47.7 (49) 54:20.6 (49) 2:46:51

I got 2nd in my age category - WOO_HOO!! The first woman was 8 minutes ahead of me. Our times were close in the bike and run, but she creamed me at swimming. I was 2 minutes ahead of the 3rd place finisher - similar swimming and biking, but I was faster at running. 7 minutes ahead of 4rth woman in my age category.