Huge AG in the water here, as they combined the 18-24 group with our 25-29 group, so maybe 90-100 of us in the water. Was a treading water start -- new for me -- so I asked some guys around me how fast they were going to go and we were all planning on around 40 minutes. Self-seeding seemed to work as I didn't get crawled over or anything, just bumped, clawed, the usual washing machine type swim start.

Swim was a huge question mark for me because of open water anxiety last year and the dizzy spells I've had the last few training sessions. Much to my relief, after a tough massive start I settled down after about 500 yards and found some space, focused on some really calming people in my life, and was able to get into a great groove of my usual bilateral breathing pattern, just going the pace that I knew I could do to finish. The buoys didn't seem that far apart, but it still felt like I was in the water forever.

Doing 35 minutes was a tremendous surprise for me, for I only wanted to do under 40, expecting 38 or 39.

Sight better at the end. Kind of got excited that I was really going to finish and had to make a hard left to get to the finish.

Saw pseudoyams come up to his transition rack when I was in T1, so I wished him good luck as I'd never see that cat on the bike (he did 24mph avg!). Long transition area made everyone's times a little slow here and had to run in cleats. clippty clop.

Thought this went well considering all the bikes were stacked on each other. Most crowded transition area I've ever seen. Bikes piled on bikes.

After the last 2 weeks of peroneal tendon problems cutting my running off, I decided to push the bike today and not worry about the run; it was going to hurt no matter what I did. Tailwind was great for the first 15 or so miles, and I was averaging somewhere in the 23s. Ha! Then I turned around. Um, yeah. So it got hard, tons of hills, some rollers, some really long and grinding, then fast descents where I hit 40 mph, the fastest I've gone on the bike.

The course was pretty crowded, but I felt like a rock star passing people constantly and staying pretty close to the double yellow the whole time so I could stay out of draft zones and clear their wheels.

Played yo-yo with this guy on a silver P3 as I caught and burst past him on every uphill and he cruised by me on the downhills. After about 3 of these repetitions, he said, "I think I've got 40 pounds on you, buddy." No joke, he did. We talked a bit during the passings, good natured race spirit stuff that reminded me how great this sport is. He dropped me though when the course got flat for about 10 miles, then it was grind-o-rama up the dam...and look who it was! Not sure where he went after that, but he definitely made a farm country bike pretty interesting.

Did I mention that I beat Alaina on the bike? No? Well, I did. Ha. Take the smallest victories and boast like you own the world, that's what I say ;) (ahem, just don't look at her final time, right?)

Not much, pretty solid on the bike section.

Didn't really want to start the run, so I took my time. I knew this was going to hurt.

Take off my Garmin while still on the bike.

With the peroneal tendon and lingering IT band issues that came up in the last 2 weeks and during the marathon, respectively, I knew the run would be tough. It's frustrating. I've got speed in these legs, but my body wants to break the f*$k down every time I try to push it, and the run was no exception. Made it about 6 miles without pain, then somewhere around here the foot hurt, hurt worse, then I forgot about it as the IT bands -- on both sides mind you -- took over, slowly enveloping my entire knee in gut-check type of pain. Time to HTFU says I, and did for the next 6-7 miles. Sun broke through, no shade on the run, and every stride a question of how much pain my body could endure. I even stopped to stretch at a few aid stations, something I never had to do in the marathon, but I needed relief. In the end, I ran the best race I could, given the conditions and my injury status. I want to do sub 8:00s on the next run because if I weren't fighting this shite there's no question I could do it. I'm not embarrassed about my time, it's just what I've been training at, what my body could do, no better. Just disappointed. I'm faster than this.

In the end, I put together a solid first race, and I'm excited for my upcoming races as well, which bodes well for the summer.

More stretching, yoga, foam roller leading up to the race. Might have made it longer without pain.

Hobbled to a shady spot with Alaina, who was there on the side of the finish line chute cheering me on at the end. She's amazing. Wow. I certainly wouldn't be doing this without her.


f*^&ing IT band and stupid foot stuff.


Great race, just wish it were closer than 12 hours away. Great times camping with DickDime, Freckle Face, DrewB8, jazz####, MissKelly, Lisac957, her friend Eric, Doug, pseudoyams and his wife, and the 3 dogs. This was one of the best weekends I can remember, ever.