Complete chaos. Knew from the start that this was going to be a contact oriented swim. With only 3min between heats and the fact that they sent us off behind all the men, meant that there was going to be a lot of getting bumped around. Right off the start about 3-4 girls broke away from the pack, I was ready for this because there were def. some girls in the wave that looked like competitive swimmers. About 200m in it was just one other girl and I out in front, I was so excited to see her up there with me. She really pushed me in the swim and it was great. About 300m in we started hitting a lot of traffic but I tried to stay calm and navagate my way around them as much as possible. Rounded first and second bouy and started heading back towards the dock, thats when things really got chaotic. The swimmers from the Olympic race were merging w/ the Sprint right at that point and it was like a sea of people. Just kept pushing through. Around 500m I got kicked in the eye and water got under my goggles but then re-sealed, so I couldn't see out of my left eye but at the same time I didn't want to waist time fixing it. Bi-lateral breathing helped me spot coming home. Rounded the 3rd and 4th buoy and headed for the exiting ramp. Ramp was super crowded with people trying to get out, I just kept swimming until it wasn't physically possibly anymore and popped out of the water.

Not sure. Putting myself in the top wave for the swim would have meant I had to register and race Elite, which I don't feel comfortable doing. Though I have to admit that I'm glad I switched up my goggles in the last two weeks, if I had been wearing my old pair, I most def. would have had a nice black eye.

After popping out of the water and getting on the dock, I saw immediately that it was really crowded and there were people walking. Jogged up towards the timing mat and said excuse me as I pushed past a guy walking all the way over on the left side, there was no other way around the walkers and I knew the girl I had been swimming with was right behind me. Jogged up the dock and towards transition. I heard "good job pink cap" from behind me, I quickly glanced back and it was the girl I had been swimming with, I told her "you too". Made me think how awesome triathlon is and how people are so encouraging, even when you are racing against each other. Got my wetsuit down to my hips before I got to my rack and tried to take long deep breathes to lower my heartrate, no luck, it was sky high and I knew it wasn't going to drop anytime soon. Wetsuit off, helmet & sunglasses on, shoes on, quick sip from water bottle then off! Saw the other "pink cap" come out of T1 infront of me (was planning on this because she didn't wear a wetsuit and was just racing in her swimsuit, props to her because I don't think I could handle that). Had a little trouble clipping in but once I did I climbed out of the saddle and was off.
AG: 1/42
OA: 9/171

Have my bike in the correct gear before starting the race.

Pushed it. My plan going into the race was to really push the bike segment and see how my legs would react on the run. I was up out of the saddle coming out of T1 and went after the woman who had passed me in T1. I pushed past her around mile one and just kept pushing. The course was really crowded, which made sense since we were all really clumped together coming out of the swim. Did my best to not enter any draft zones but it was really difficult, there were just so many people everywhere. Spent lots of time passing and being passed by the same people, it was getting super annoying and I was getting frustrated. I had to remind myself to calm down a few times and remind myself that there wasn't anything I could do to get the packs to spread out. I tried to remove myself from the packs and bike more to the left w/o "blocking" anyone coming down the left side. Since the roads were closed, we all had about 2-3 lanes to bike in, so that made things a little better. There were no mile markers on the course which I think helped me, I just kept pushing as hard as I could for as long as I could. There were two times I came off my pace to give my legs a little reprieve but then I got back up to speed and back into the rhythm. Saw Dan & my Dad on the way back (around mile 10, I think), it was just want I needed. So great to see them both out on the course! :) Had to yell to Dan because by the look on both their faces, they didn't see me coming. Hammered my legs to the bike dismount, stopped right before the dismount line, un-clipped and ran into transition.

Nothing. This is the best I've felt so far on the bike in a race.

Un-clipped and then turned right into the transition area. Had a little trouble turning with the bike and almost slipped while running in my bike shoes. Luckly, I had a great rack location near the bike in/out, so it was fairly quick for me to find my rack. Bike racked, shoes off, running shoes on. Ran w/ my race belt, visor & water bottle. Put race belt on while running through transition and then visor on as I crossed the timing mat.
AG: 1/42
OA: 7/171

Nothing, this was a good T2 for me.

HR was ridiculously high coming out of T2 and I knew I was in for a painful 3.1. Tried to calm down during the first .5 but my body wasn't having any of it. Lungs were burning and I was starting to get side stitches. Tried running my my arms/hands near my hips but they kept creeping up. Right before mile 1 I saw Slake and it cheered me up, soon after that there was a little girl holding her hand out for the athletes to slap, so I ran over to her and slapped it on the way by, as I turned the corner I saw the Ortons and other team FeXY members which gave me a boost. Dave ran with me for a little bit but I was almost ready to ask him to slow down because I couldn't run that fast, soon after it was a turn up 14th street. As I was running up the hill one of the volunteers yelled "great job ladies!". Ugh!! I knew I was getting past. The woman flew by me and her run looked strong, we both exchanged the "good job" between gasps of air. Mile 2 was up in the distance and I decided, lets pick up the pace, I mean, why not? I already couldn't breathe, there was nothing to lose at this point. Mile 2 hurt, BAD. Asthma was kicking in and my chest was getting super tight. Legs felt great and I was annoyed that my lungs were not cooperating the way I wanted them too. Turned onto Penn. Ave and could see the finish off in the distance, it was a beautiful sight, I could even see the faint blue mat. Dug down and pushed even harder. About 1/2 mile out I was weezing heavily and I only noticed because the guys around me kept looking at me like, "are you ok? are you going to pass out?" About 1/4 mile to the finish this guy turned his head to me and said, "run with me", "lets finish this thing." He could tell I was hurting and probably would have started to fade it if wasn't for him. He and I sprinted across the blue mat to the finish, it was an awesome feeling as we crossed that line! We shook hands right afterwards and I thanked him for pushing me to the finish.

Need to start running at a higher HR in my training run to get my body and lung used to working that hard.

Walked out of the finishers chute and found my Dad and Dan, talked with them for awhile and caught up with other members of Team FeXY. Changed my clothes, into nice dry ones and had a bagel and Starbucks. I mean, how perfect is it that you end your race and can walk right over to Starbucks. :)


Breathing on the run.


Great course and plenty of support. Only real issue I had was the day before with packet pick up and racking of bikes. The amount of time it took to do both totaled up to about 3 hours and involved lots of walking around. My legs were shot the night before the race (compression socks work wonders).

However, the opportunity to watch the pros race ITU style was amazing!! They are incredible athletes and it was a privilege to see them compete live, right in our backyards. Great day with great people, couldn't really ask for much more than that! :)