Based on the conditions of the water, i was really happy with my swim. First of all, I was incredibly nervous of doing a swim without a wetsuit, since that is basically what keeps me from sinking like a rock. The swim started with little conflict from the other racers. I hardly met anyone the entire time, so I guess I positioned myself well in the water. The waves made it so I was almost swimming into a wall every 5 seconds. I tried to synch my breathing with the crest of the wave, so I did not get water in the mouth every breath. This worked fairly well, and i ended up making it through this leg.

Since my goal was not to die, I think I did alright. ;-) Great learning experience, and very happy that I finished this hard swim.

Ok, this is where the race gets interesting. Exiting the water, I see that everyone is still on the beach. I was thinking, "Oh s**t, did someone die??" Turns out, the far buoy broke loose from its restraints and floated away, sending a big crowd of people in a tizzy. So we all waited for everyone to get back to the beach, where then the EMS said that the swim conditions were unsafe and called it off. Only 4 of the 9 waves ended up swimming, which I was fine with (I was in the first wave). So after some planning, the race directors said that they were converting the event to a duathalon, and that the swim was scrapped. The race would re-start at T1, running from the beach to transition.

There was nothing in my power that I could do.

This was the hard part, wind like you wouldn't believe. This is the worst condition that I have ridden in to date, but I tried my best. People were wrecking and getting flats left and right, so I feel I was pretty lucky to not wipe out. My biggest problem was the traffic. Somehow, the race directors decided to run the bike on some on the busiest roads in the region, and you could tell too. My biggest issue was the drivers themselves, who all seemed in a huge hurry and did not really think that a race was going on. Really freaky and almost frightening. But I digress. Overall, the bike was fine, given conditions

Performed a flying dismount fine, ran off to transition really quick IMHO, given the amount of people that were just s**tting around taking their time lol

A 2 loop course around the Nashville Shores park, some paths, some roads and some trail running. I personally did not like the run, way too many obstacles in the way (ie rocks, roots, poor path conditions). Tripped a couple of times, but no worries. Had the same stomach issues as always, but toughened through it and tried to finish. I am a slow runner (story of my life), so that is something I really need to focus on in the coming year. Not a bad run, performance wise, but I just need to try harder.

After the race, stretched out and went on home. I was tired, it was a really tough day, but I think I did pretty well considering all of the things that I had going against me. This was my first Oly race, and that alone I am happy with. The added weather did not help, but I really just looked at it as experience and preparation for Hickory Knob in a month.

When I got home, thats when I really got pissed. When checking the race times to see what I got, I could not find my name on the list. Apparently, they did not have me down for the run, so I assumed my timing chip messed up or something. I was furious. I struggled with that run, and it was not counted. I knew I did it, and so did everyone else, but they simply did not have a time for me. Oh well, there was nothing I could really do about it, so dont worry about it and just look forward for Hickory Knob


Weather, I could have been more mentally prepared, but since it was my first Olympic distance race, I think I did alright.


I will race again, if they change the bike route a little (less busy roads) as well as the run (less trail running). Not bad, but could use some improvements