I entered the water at the same time as a friend, Randy. He always beats the snot out of me, but I decided to pass him right before T2. He gets in the water and kicks off JUST before me.

My first thought was, OH MY GOD the water is HOT! It was stifling, but I powered through that. My second though was, "Shit I left my shirt on." So I swam with a shirt on. THEN I reallized I left my number-belt on. So I swam dragging my number. Special! =D

It was hard to pass Randy. I tried to pass once and I ran into another dude. He and I were swimming shoulder to shoulder and passed about 3 people before I finally passed him. I slowed down and drafed on his wake for 50m, regrouping. Then on 200m turn I sprinted to get away from him. At 300m I looked back and saw him really trying to catch me, so I couldn't enjoy my final laps. I was WAY TIRED. My arms had 0 left at then end. The time was crap, but I think we were all suffering.
I managed to hold him off at the end, so that's a win in my book.

I wasted my arms on the bike. I think I was pulling up on the aero-bars too much. I've never ridden like that.

The bike leg was FAST. There weren't too many riders, so when a friend passed me on his Cervelo, I decided to catch him. I rode 40-feet behind him for 2 laps. I tried to make a move on him at the start of the 2nd lap, but he passed me after 1 mile. 1 mile later (with 2 miles left) I decided to leave it all out there and I sprinted past him. I managed to keep a lead on him going into T2, but he beat me to the pool. Grrr....

I think the biking intervals have really helped. I need to do more short-fast rides.

The run was in a drainage canal. Picture the car race at the end of Grease. It was like that but smaller and less awesome. ...until I got there.
After about 100 yards, my friend Monte tripped over an errant piece of wire. He went down and ended up in the hospital with stitches. They need to walk that course and clean it up!!

The rest of the run was fine. I passed a few people that I thought I wouldn't. I stuck right behind a guy I knew was a faster runner. I decided he'd set a good pace that I wouldn't keep if I was alone. I am really happy with my run time.

Intervals will help me. I need to get off my ass and run a damn hill once in a while.

I had to leave right after the race, because I had out-of-town guests in-my-town.