I am slow, very slow, but the person front of me was seeded in the wrong place. Even at my pace and a 10 second delay, I was all over her immediately and she would not let me pass. Eventually there was a break in oncoming swimmers and I was able to swim by her and coninue on my way but was gassed by the effort. Towards the end of the swim I noticed she had been passed multiple times and was several lanes back. I need to spend more time in the water and swimming with people. Tons of people in the lane was a new experience for me. Overall it was fun, I've been swimming only a few months and need loads more time in the water. The overall race winner spent half as much time in the water as I did.

more time in water.

long switchback run from pool to T1. I was a little foggy feeling coming out of the water and carefully jogged down the wet path to T1 while trying to get my bearings.

more swim time and run hard leaving the water

3 loops around a 3 mile course. Uphills were tough climbs but fun shooting down them. My $60.00 garage sale cruiser bike did not have enough gears for the downhills so I just rested my legs and enjoyed the ride. Passed a few folks and had super fast riders shoot by me like I was standing still.

I need more time in the saddle and one day invest in a more efficient bicycle.

T2 times aren't posted, but I basically racked the bike, threw off the helmet and started running. 20-30 seconds?

My legs did not feel wasted when I started running, but I never could seem to find a higher gear. Just plodded along about as hard as I could go. The Swamp Rabbit Trail is a nice running course along the Reedy River and I enjoyed the run even though I was getting hot and tired by this point. Need more running miles, but I think I did OK considering I started running in January.

run Forest run

All the bottled water was gone by the time I made it to the finish. Grabbed a Coke and some shade.


I thought this was a great race for first timers, I really had a lot of fun. And by looking at the finishing times, a lot of really fast athletes had a good time too.