It was my first open water swim of the year. By time my age group started there were a lot of waves in the water. I breathe to the right so I had problems swallowing water and so I flipped onto my back. The waves were still coming over my head and I was swallowing water. It was not fun! Once the waves calmed down I settled down and was able to actually finish the swim with a minute to spare before the cut-off.

I need to swim more in open water, learn bilateral breathing, and just swim more in general. I have no confidence at all in my swim abilities.

I took my time. I just wanted to make sure everything was in order. I loved the wetsuit strippers. It was nice to struggle getting it off.

I might speed it up a little but I was just trying to decide wether or not to wear a jacket, etc.

It started out slow. I had to stop and take out my retainer because it didn't work too well with shot blocks. I did very good in the middle of the bike portion. I then got a extremely intense, sharp pain at the base of my neck between my shoulder blades. That stopped my aero position riding and it slowed me down a lot. Mentally it was a huge barrier and coupled with the wind and rain I was going so slow at the end of this race it wasn't funny. I was so cold at the end though that when I stopped pedaling on the downhills to conserve energy I was shivering so much I almost wrecked. It just was a horrible bike for me.

I would not let the rain and wind get to me so much mentally and try to work through that pain but it was so intense that it was almost impossible. I was sitting straight up in my saddle with my hands on the pads for your arms on the aero bars so it wasn't the best position to ride in the wind. I had stomach problems too so I couldn't take any calories or water in after a certain point.

I took my time again. I was really beat up mentally at this point. I sat on my but and took my shoes and socks out of the shopping bag that i had them sealed in. It was so nice to have dry shoes and socks. It helped a lot mentally.

I am so thankful that I put my shoes and socks in a grocery bag. If they were wet I would have been really demoralized.

I felt surprisingly good once the run started. I was expecting the worse after the last few miles of the bike. My stomach calmed down and I was able to take in calories so I started alternating water and gatorade at every aid station. I loved the soup at the one aid station. I walked through the aid stations so that slowed my time down. I had three or so miles on the last loop where mentally I was thinking how Far five more miles was and so I walked some. They were 10-11 minute miles. Once we turned towards the finish I started running fine again and was at an 8 minute pace.

I would try not to get down on myself on the second loop about how much distance is left. I would try and not walk through the aid stations either.

Walk back and forth from my car to get my stuff.


Lack of training and I have been sick since Wednesday with tonsils that are swollen and covered in puss.


I would like to thank all of the volunteers for staying out in the rain. They were great and helped me out a ton. This is a very well organized and run race in a great town and course.