I realized as I jumped in that I had not even looked at the course, only the map. I asked which part of the bridge we'd go under and was told the far right, then do the turn and back under the third. Could not see the buoys on the other side of the bridge. Great start - not much bumping and had a good line. Caught first stragglers just before bridge and lost the guy I was tailing. Came out of bridge and looked ahead for buoy, but didn't see it, but everyone was now angling to my left. Turns out the map was not accurate and there was a single turn buoy at a 45 degree angle to me. So many slow, breaststoking bodies to avoid near the turn. On the way back, the glare prevented me from seeing anything downstream. I ended up pulling up a few times to avoid slower bodies and find a line. Lost confidence in my line and resolved to just chill and finish without getting kicked, mauled, grabbed anymore. Never got hurt, just very frustrated.

Get a good visual on the course. My own fault, but (unless we all went off course) the map was not accurately representing the course. Need more, bigger buoys.

Got a minor cramp in my right hammy bending over to get my shoe on. That's been a semiregular thing. Wetsuit took 3-4 pulls to remove.

May need tribike shoes...

Best bike leg I've done. Felt good in first 1/4 mile: strong legs, had breath back. Surprised to be passing people like I was. About 3 miles in, a group of faster guys sped by and I made an effort to catch them and basically paced with them for the majority of the race. Loved the wide roads and managed the single lane bottlenecks pretty well. Probably slowed 2-3 times due to congestion which was less than I expected. Ran out of water about 18 miles in and dreaded it would affect my run (stay tuned) but was cruising so well, I didn't feel like slowing down. Felt smooth, controlled and well below the red zone.

Bring an extra water bottle.

loooooong way to bike. Only had one corner of my number attached to my race belt, had to stop to attach other one. Forgot to do that. oops.

Attach number.

Started underhydrated but knowing I needed a sub-49:20 to break 2:30:00. Attempting math at that juncture, I thought I needed to stay just under 8:00/mile. Got out fast and knew I had to slow pace to maintain. I was OK through mile 3.5 and was right on pace at sub 8s but then I felt tightening in my left hammy. Just before Mile 4, left leg cramped and then the right followed. Did the Frankenstein walk for about 10 yards and felt better. Ran again. Saw the family at mile 4 marker (surprised!!!), gave kids fives and had a burst of energy. At mile 5 I passed them again on the loop back (more fives and smiles!) but saw that I was a minute off schedule. Tried to push just before the Jefferson to have a chance at it, but the 2:30:00 ticked by as I saw the Finish chute way down the street. Managed a nice kick, and didn't leave much out there.

drink more on bike and work on overall leg strength. The hammy cramps must go away.

Food, massage, drink, drink, drink.


Underhydrated. Bad swim plan.


Great volunteers! Great bike and run course. Was it just me having swim course confusion?