Pretty good. Lots of the girl's college team swimmers raced. I started 5th and didn't catch anyone (although, I got close to the dude that started :30 up), and no one caught me. Out of the pool and into T1

Not press the "stop" button on my watch when I finished.

Super fast T1. Left 2 of th4 people who started ahead of me behind, before I even got on my bike.

Nothing.

Wow...turny. I'm pretty happy with 21+mph with all of those turns. I felt like I was accelerating/deccelerating the whole time. Felt really good, though.

On the first lap, I passed the 2 people left in front of me...and road that way the rest of the way.

Corner more aggressively.

Problems here. Everything was fine until I tried to put my second running shoe on, on my left foot. When i pointed my toe and tried to slip my foot in, my calf cramped up massively. Tried to work it out, but it wasn't hapopening. Every time I tried to get that shoe on, instant, excruciating pain. I didn't know what to do. I thought, for a second, that I was gonna DNF while leading the damn race.

During my cramp fest, the dude that started :45up on me came in and left.

Finally...I spotted a brick column. I hobbled over, sat down, stuck my toes in my shoe and pressed my foot up against the column. That let me wedge my shoe on without pointing my toe, and avoiding subsequent cramping. Success!

Meantime, the guy who started :30 up on me racked his bike.

Blargh. What should have been a :30 transition turned out to be almost 3 minutes.

Remember my enduralytes, stretch before I got off the bike.

Hobbled out of transition, doing a crude imitation of running where I "run" without flexing my ankles. Because, at this point, calf #2 was cramping. I felt like I was running on peg legs.

Oh...and I took a wrong turn, going about 25 yards in the wrong direction before figuring it out.

In th efirst 400 yards, dude #2 passed me an dmy hobbling self, wich put me 3rd overall. Finally, after about a half mile, i finallyu started feeling better and could run normally. SO I picked it up and was running well.

Finished the first loop, and noticed dude #2 was coming back to me. Some guy said dude #1 was 2 minutes up, so it seemed like I was catchinghim, too. In the first quarter of the second lap, I passed dude #2 who said he felt like he was gonna puke. Back into 2nd...

Finshed lap # 2 feeling really strong and running really well. I was now about a minute down on dude #1, but with his :45 head start, I just needed to get back about another 20 seconds in the final lap. And, I could finally see him. Was I actually gonna win this race?

Just as I got that thought in my head, just past the start of the last lap, dude #2 chugs past me. Dammit. Obviously, he was feeling better. Knowing he started :30 up on me, I let him get about :10, and then marked him. That worked well for about a quarter mile, but then he picked it up and pulled away. And I just didn't have the legs to stay with him. But, close to the finish, dude #1 was only about :20 up. So I figured I got 2nd.

Have less cramps at the start. Not make a wrong turn.

Walked around,


Cramps, early season fitness.


So it turns out this sandbagger, who started 29th, won the damn race, pushing me down to third. Harvey (phatknot) finished about :30 up on me. Nice job, Harvey!