Was at the start 10 minutes before the gun. Trying to find a good place to start from. It was a little crowded between the pier and the start. The paddle board guy said out to in would be good so I positioned myself outside. I started inside at the Tinman. Should have stuck with that one too. Gun went off and I still was behind a few swimmers. I thoroughly enjoyed them kicking me in the face for the first 75 meters. I finally swam over the guy on my left and pushed around the one that was kung fooing my head and neck. After that it was clear sailing. I had a nice stroke and good rhythm all the way to the turn. Hit the turn very well with very little traffic. Lost my line some on the return trip though. I had to sight more often than I would have liked to. Pulled long, hard strokes until the shore.

I should have trusted my instinct. Make sure that I'm in front on the races that I feel confident in the swim.
I could learn underwater kung foo. I'll show that guy!

This was weird. I got to my spot and hopped in my little tub and kinda stood there for a second. Look at the pretty colors... what was that? Oh yeah this is a race. Get going tough guy!
Finally at the mount point I jumped on the bike feet hit the pedals got some speed and slipped my right foot in and couldn't get the velcro closed tight enough. Same for the other side too. Had to re-tighten them once. Just a note... I had clipped my shoes on the wrong pedals pre-race too. Luckily on alder couple had noticed and pointed it out. I thought they were admiring my low budget setup. Ooops. Oh well. At least I caught it before the race.

I did not mentally rehearse the T1 like I normally do. I walk the entry to my spot and visualize going through my routine. I picked a bad spot too. Right next to the tree that nearly blocked the path to the bike exit.

After finally getting my shoes on right I was off. My legs felt slow already and I hadn't even hit the hill yet. I ran into about five cars and went on the outside for a few then inside only to have one of them decide he wanted to park right now and flung a sharp right turn. At least this way I was certain to see the dark red car dead ahead as I barreled towards it. I whipped back outside and smiled lovingly at the parking car. Then the hill. I had ridden this hill before, but today I swear I was trying to ride a tricycle up a ladder. After I finally got to the top and the climb was over, I was already dreading the hill again. The first lap wasn't bad. I could see the few guys in front of me. the latter laps got kinda congested with all kinds of flotsam. I was glad to take that left to the park.

I need to get better at this... period!

This is an easy transition.
I still would like to get it done faster.

I took a moment to wipe of some pine needles before throwing the Zoots on.
Maybe I should train with pine needles in my shoes?

This is one of my better runs. Still could be faster though.
I had been training for longer distances.

Stretch and walking around.


Better ability/training.
A few cars/people in the way.


Not a bad race. Good intentions and any race that has community benefits is a win anyway.
But the lack of finish area niceties can ruin a race for many.