Made sure I didn't go out too hard on the swim. Stayed under control and had a slow pace. Swam a mix of 95% free and 5% breast to maintain navigation. Let lots of people go ahead of me and had a hard time getting to the first buoy. Did much better once I rounded the 2nd.

Changed into my shoes and ran the bike to the mount area. Got in and out of the suit with no problems. Tried not to rush and forget something.

Shipping my bike was too expensive and I wasn't going to be in town on time to rent one. I borrowed a mountain bike that is a great bike for cruising around town but not so hot for a race.

My own bike would have been nice but this boiled down to not enough training. More miles and time in the saddle.

Kept my bikes shoes on for the run to the rack. Got into my running shoes just fine. Felt pretty wobbly for a while.

First mile was a bit rough as expected. Ran with a really nice woman from SoCal who had a good pace and great attitude. We had a nice conversation on the way. We wound up passing a woman in the last half mile who nearly caught me at the finish line. It was a good strong finish.

Run more I guess. Im really not all that fast.

Light walking and lots of water. A handful of grapes. Back to my friends house and 30 minutes in the hot tub and an icy cold Molson. I felt kinda weird drinking at 10a, but hey it's noon somewhere right?


I had a terrible last 6 weeks of training. I just didn't put in the time, especially on the bike. My own equipment would have helped, but it wouldn't have made that big a difference.


The guy who they hired to do announcements was a piece of work. He said a lot of obnoxious and rude things about us racers in a feeble attempt to be funny. Mostly he was a jackass.

The rest of the race went great. No massage available which I could have used, oh well.

I'd like to do this one again.