About 5 seconds before the start of our wave (2nd wave of the day in very manly hot pink caps), a guy right behind me started freaking out and hyperventilating. Tried to communicate the need for help to the horn guy but no luck. The horn sounded and it was every man for himself. My wife later told me that the lifeguard was able to get him after the wave left.

After bumping around for a bit, everyone got settled in and I was able to follow my pace. Hoping to find someone a little faster than me to draft but no luck. Overall, I had a pretty good swim. No goggle leaks, minimal fogging, didn't miss any bouys.

More OWS practice and better sighting. I OWS'ed once before the race and that was probably a month before. Focused a lot of training time on pool drills and form.

It was a loooong way from the water to my bike. Ran up some winding ramps where my wife informed me I was 3rd in my AG out of the water. Felt great about that! It was a long TA and I was glad my bike was close the bike in/out.

Slipped on my socks, bike shoes, race belt, and finally my helmet. Pulled my bike off the rack and headed for bike out. Once across the mount line I got on my bike smoothly, clipped in, pedaled for a bit to get some speed, then slipped my sunglasses on.

Second fastest T1 in my AG.

Nothing. Really glad my wife was able to let me know my position - that was a HUGE help!

Started out at a comfortable pace and quickly kicked it into gear. Passed one of the guys in my AG who was ahead of me. He had a bunch of rash on his back and a bent seat. He said that he crashed. Good on him for keeping going! He would end up passing me on the run and finishing about 2:30 ahead of me.

There were a couple of loose dogs on the side of the highway but they were either well trained or had an invisible fence b/c they would bark and carry on but they wouldn't get on the pavement.

I carried a disposable squeeze water bottle which I planned to exchange for the bottle hand-up on the course. I'd never done that before so I didn't really know exactly what to expect. it went very smoothly though. I approached, tossed my bottle, and grabbed a full one. Yeah!

Not much bike traffic out on the course which was nice. Thank you to all the LEO's who managed the intersections!

Only one bit of drama on the bike. About a mile before the finish, my left contact came off of my eye! It was still in my eye but wasn't on my eye (hard contacts). So I could see ok, but my depth perception was pretty jacked. Made the last couple turns across the bridge a little interesting.

Had a great bike leg so I can't think of much I'd do differently. Took 2 gels, one at about 15' in and another at about 50' in. Slipped the third into my short pocket for the run.

Did the one leg behind the other cruise thing to the dismount line. quickly popped off and ran my bike to my rack. Decided to rack my bike how it was this morning since I didn't want to risk a time penalty for racking my bike incorrectly. Jack is a big stickler on rules! That took a little longer than normal but my overall T2 was great. Left T2 with a mile on my face and cheers from my wife. 2nd fastest T2 in my AG.

Nada.

Took me a good mile or so to get my running legs under me after getting off the bike. And then the hills arrived. Suffering. I pushed through but was soon passed by the guy in my AG that I passed on the bike. I tried to hang on and pace him but no such luck in those hills. I conceded his pass and hoped he would burn out toward the end where I was hoping to have a kick. No such luck.

Running across the suspension bridge to the finish was fun with the people cheering. I had a good kick for the last 1/2 mile to the finish but my run time was a little slower than I hoped for. Those hills hit my quads hard and I could feel them throbbing in both my legs. Glad I didn't cramp.

More hill work-outs. I did essentially zero hill/strength work prior to the race. Did plenty of speed work but not much on an incline.

Crossed the finish line and sat down for a while. Got my contact situated in my eye. Then walked around for a bit (and checked the times to confirm the need to stick around for the awards ceremony), ate some pizza and a banana, stretched, picked up my transition stuff, loaded it all into the car, then headed up to the hotel room for some A/C and a shower before the awards ceremony.


Hills on the run.


Lots of volunteers and a well directed race. Pre-race mtng was way too long and the awards were a bit delayed by the arrival of the official results. Overall a good race though and I'm glad I did it.