It was high tide so there wasn't much chance of hitting reef on the swim this time which was good. There were still some pretty good size rollers coming in that you might catch a break or two depending on where you were. I had a bit of difficulty breathing because of a cold coming on, so I never got comfortable. In any case, the water was a little bit better than Tinman. One negative, they kind of got the guys out into the water too early. We ended up treading water for almost 10 minutes before they started.

Practice...

Had a decent T-1. I might have been a little faster if I hadn't been struggling t catch my breath as a result of the aforementioned cold setting in.

Nothing. Not much I could have done about the cold.

Not a great course design since the uphills started getting a little clogged as the slower riders/swimmers got on the course. Also ended up getting clogged with the Sunday recreational bike riders that were on the road. Had a wipeout occur on the road about 100 yds in front of me (young kid/competitor took out 3 or 4 adults).
Road conditions: Mostly good except along Paki and Kalakaua which were pretty rough.

Nothing except maybe a little more hill training before this race.

Would have broken one minute except the bike in lane was narrow and I got stuck behind another competitor who was taking his time going into transition and he wouldn't get out of my way. Had a great dismount (probably one of my best ever) as I was just flying and lost little speed/momentum jumping off the bike.

Nothing.

Had one small equipment difficulty. My Zoot laces came undone and I had to stop and cinch them up and tuck the ends back in about 3/4 mile into the run.
Decent run, there were a lot of local tourist traffic on the sidewalk and a lot of Sunday joggers around the park.

Check the dang laces when I put the shoes on...

Stretch, walked around


The cold coming on and training


This is the first triathlon/distance event that I have ever competed in that didn't have munchies for the athletes after the finish!! No fruit, bagels, anything. There was water and gatorade and from what I heard, they ran out of cups. Oh, there was food to buy... Also, I was #62 out of 174 overall finishers and the 48th man and they were out of men's large T-shirts when I got in...again...what the heck is up with that!!! Also, not crazy about the long narrow bike-in/bike-out chute. and on a final note...pretty disappointed in the "celebrity" turnout. Petty I know when I was there to do a race...but say that certain celebrities were committed to come and they don't show...just one more indicator of the organization of the event. I'd cut them some slack since this was the first event for them, but they did have Pacific Sport Events there and those guys do a few of these races every year, not sure how much the Tag organization used their knowledge when organizing this event. Will probably think twice about doing this one again next year...if there is a next year for this one.