I took off feeling really good about the race, the bouy looked a little further than I remembered but no big deal. I hit the surf and my goggles wouldn't hold a seal at all, they filled. The rubber seal broke. From that point I was just trying to keep my eyes closed and not get sand or salt water in my contacts. I was all over the course on my way to the first bouy, it was pretty funny. I was left, then right and just trying to find the big yellow bouy. I finally made the first turn and caught the feet of a woman in front of me and held on for the remainder of the race. This was the best drafting I had ever done in a race but I wasted tons of time trying to get to the first bouy.

Toss the broken goggles and wear a new pair with an actual seal.

T1 went fairly well. I was ticked that the swim had taken so long and I let it get to me a little to much, surprisingly I was in and out in my fastest T1 time ever. This was my first race without socks and it went well. It cut nearly a minute off my T1 time. Perhaps this is something I should consider in future sprints.

Nothing, this went really well

Bike went fairly well. I had some lower back from olympic lifting on Monday, note to self discontinue lifting 2 weeks before Ironman. Pushed hard on the rollers and climbed the hills really well.

Push a little harder and not let 3rd place pass on the bike.

Came into T2 and ran to the wrong rack again. I need to work on this, this is the second time I've made this mistake while racing. I ran up to what I thought was my towel and my shoes were gone, as was my wetsuit and bag, I almost freaked and then saw my rack and ran around. Off will the helmet on with the running shoes, again no socks and off I go.

Run to the correct rack.

Run went well. Finally a leg I was happy with. I was over last years race time so I just relaxed and worked on form, it paid off because I finished 7 seconds faster this year. I'll take it. About a mile from the finish I could feel a blister on my big toe, I hung on and worked on my kick and form and pushed to the finish passing one person in my age group in the last mile (woo hoo).

I'm not sure about going sockless especially with all the sand. I'll have to think about this one.

Marine took my chip I grabbed some water and an orange slice then headed back to the run where I saw Ann Marie heading by. I walked down to transition and packed up, I had a baby shower to cohost at 2:00 so it was home for a quick shower, lunch and load all the goodies into the truck.

I'll be honest. I was really unhappy with my performance and was expecting better. The reality is I did fine but I expected a certain performance from me and didn't deliver. I need to not be as hard on myself. I did really well and should be proud. I need to start playing the mental game, IM is going to be totally mental and I need to stay with it.


I had a few issues with gear and navigational errors all of I can fix and I really should have been in bed by 9:00 rather than hanging out with the boys the night before.

I can't let bad performaces get in my head. I learned a lot from this race. June Lake was physicially hard, this race got in my head (and shouldn't have). Time to start really getting my head in the game.


I will do this race every year. The Marines do an amazing job and nothing is better than a 60 dollar entry fee. There really aren't a lot of pre or post race events, fine by me. It's a great race and I'll be back.