Overall, I was happy with this swim, an easy pace for a wetsuit swim. I kept strokes long and relaxed throughout and felt great coming out. I started out to the left of the pack to get some open water which helped me stay out of the beatings. The first leg was into the sun, so I was mostly sighting off of the other swimmers to get to the green turn bouy. Made the turn towards the second bouy and the sun was on the left side. I ended up passing some of the open class swimmers from the first wave. Made the second turn and started to head for home. There was another guy close, so I decided to try my hand at drafting. I shortly realized that he couldn't site well and was all over the place, so I gave up on that idea. I swear he swam across me 3 or 4 times while he was overcorrecting his position.

Swim was the best part of the day, so nothing.

Long run from the water up to transition up a pretty good hill. Jenn Henry finished the swim just ahead of me, so I chased her up the hill. Once I got into the T area, I headed towards my bike rack, which I knew was right next to a picnic pavilion. What I failed to realize in the am was that there were two pavilions. Stupid me went to the first one and wondered who had taken my bike. Luckily there were some guys there waiting for the relay and they pointed me in the right direction.

Look over the transition fully so I don't have to run around looking like an idiot.

Definitely different driving than riding it. There were some long gradual climbs and rolling hills. Had it been a bike alone, I would have had fun hammering it, but I tried to hold back as much as possible. I caught up with J22 at mile 5, then he passed me back and I caught him again around mile 27. After the 2nd water stop he led again and I didn't see him again. My biggest problem on the bike was my, ah, er, undercarriage. By mile 10, I wanted to get off the bike. I've ridden long rides in the those tri shorts before to ensure everything was okay and had no problems, maybe it's cause the shorts were wet from the swim, I dunno. Needless to say, I was moving all over the saddle for 45 miles. I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace hard, and I was sure getting passed enough to show that, but I should have evidently backed off even more given my abysmal run performance.

Figure out the shorts (saddle?) thing and figure out a better pace. Need to do more long brick workouts to really feel it out.

This started out awesome. Did a flying dismount. I was moving fast into the dismount line and hopped off and started running. Others around me were slowing down a lot to get off. One girl gasped cause she thought I wasn't going to make it, I took that as a good sign. I racked the bike, helmet off, threw on the hat, took off the timing chip, and put on the compression socks, regular socks and shoes. I picked up the water belt and race belt and headed out. Umm, ya, forgot something. Luckily I realized it before leaving the T area, so I turned around and strapped on the timing chip again. Stupid...

Keep my head together.

Umm, can you tell where the wheels fell off the wagon? This run was brutal. I knew that my run fitness was no where, where I wanted it to be coming into this because of my achilles issue, but still, horrible. Good news is that the achilles didn't bother me (glad I wore the compression socks and great for the rest of the season), but maybe that's cause I walked probably around 4 miles of the "run". I started out too fast and started to feel progressively worse and worse. The mind games started, but there was no way that I wasn't going to finish. Started a 4 min run, 1 min walk, which then turned to 3 min run, 1 min walk. Then it became run to the next cone, mail box, stop sign, etc... This was a humbling run and it surely gave me respect for this distance.

Need to stay healthy, do more long bricks, and seek revenge on the run at my next HIM.

Walked around, hydrated and ate a ton of food. Hung out in the NAMC tent.


This was a very well run race. I got my butt kicked at my first attempt at this distance, but that is all the more motivation for the next time.