There was a bit of easternly winds today and there was big rolling waves. It was WEIRD to be in salt water again. Bleeech.
I think I swam well....I only breast-stroked to site and I was with my wave and in the thick of things the whole way. At the turn to the finish, a few fasties from the wave behind passed me....but we got even. At the exit, folks were stumbling over the rocks in the last 100 yards. Not me, I stayed horizontal and grabbed the rocks and used 'pull and glide' technique from cave diving to pull myself practically out the water. I jogged all the way to my bike feeling good about the swim and thinking that Masters was working out well for me.

All those feelings were shattered when I saw Mike in transition (ahead of me). I have never, ever lost a swim to him. EVER. This year, I've been doing masters twice a week and working hard on the swim, while this was his FIRST swim of the year. Life is soooo freakin' unfair sometimes. I have to work twice as hard as other people for about a quarter of the result.

Ran into Phil at the start of the bike, and hurried to catch Mike at about mile 3. I didn't see him again until the run. I didn't have a bike computer on this race, so I had no idea how I was doing. I was just having fun out there and as usual, I didn't control myself at all. Everytime I had an opportunity to pass someone, I took it and went faster than I've rode in a long time. Saw Jeff once on the bike, so I knew he made it through the swim. Yay Jeff. Caught up to hubby about mile 3....hollered out to him that he had cute pace booty and took off. The second loop was fun too, chatted with #99 and another girl who I kept passing/being passed with. Made a mistake and took my shoes off too early again and pedaled with feet on shoes for about a mile.

The run into t2 was a bit of a cluster. We had to go up a curb, over grass and make some weird turn. I had no idea where I was until wow, there's transition. (When hubby got here, he missed seeing the curb and twisted his ankle pretty bad. Did he stop? No. You'll hear more about this later).

Felt pretty good at the start of the run, jogged easily past transition, the finish line, waved to Jeff's & E's wives, felt strong and very proud that I was racing instead of watching (like the other wives!) Was determined to have a sub-40 run. I was completely unaware of the deep, deep sugar sand waiting for me. When I saw the first patch, I didn't let it get me down...but after the 4th or 5th and twisting my ankle on a root, I let my dream of a good tri run go and decided to walk through all the sugar sand. About halfway through the run, a hand reached out to me and handed me some water.....it was my husband ...and he was limping pretty bad. He thought he could 'run it off' and was in a LOT of pain now. I didn't really believe him because he was still pretty speedy, but he asked if we could walk it in together. Of course we can honey! So, we fast-walked the rest of the run....saw Holly pass me and saw Jeff walking some of it. Also saw Laura from Masters run by. Hubby joked that since I agreed to finish together, I had better not surge ahead at the finish....I teased him a little, but we finished at the same exact second...and have a cute finisher picture to boot!

Afterwards, I pigged out on pizza and pasta...then joined my work peeps for cheeseburgers and fries, and somewhere in there, I won a $65 bike maintenance gift card and got a 3rd place medal for Super-Athena category...losing second place to the same girl that took 2nd at Longleaf....we posed for a 'nemesis' photo together!