The swim was quite short. I passed the guy in front of me and because I was in the first 7 we pretty much had plenty of room to swim. no problems here.

This was only one of two parts that I aced. 4 of the 6 people in front of me where 13 - 15 year olds that, right before the race, put on the year-round swim team caps. I felt pretty good that those were the ones ahead of me. :)

hrmm.. I guess I sumitted a slighly slower swim time that I was capable of. I submitted 2:45 and my time was 2:41 counting jumping in and getting out and running to the not-too-far-away timing mat.

I enjoyed the swim... 3rd fasted over all!!! Gotta find me a masters team:)

Wow.. is it a bad sign if your T1 time is 23 seconds LONGER than your whole swim!?!? :) Past weeks dialog.

BT: DON'T try and put a shirt on in T1
BT: Ditto.. no shirt in T1
BT: I highly advise against putting a shirt on in T1
Me: Oh please.. My shirt is gonna be loose fitting and it won't be a big deal.
BT: No.. Really.. you need to go shirtless.
Me: yeah yeah yeah.. blah blah blah.. my shirt will be fine.
Pool: Hey everyone.. welcome to the Tri.. I'm here to get you nice and wet
Me: Ok.. out of the pool.. goggles off.. into T1.. down to my bike.
Socks: No.. I don't want to go on.. well.. ok.. maybe this time...
Shoes: You should probably hurry up buddy.. oh.. and don't forget to tuck your laces into me so they don't get caught in your chainring..
Shirt: MWUHAHAHAHA.. you silly silly boy!! BWWAHAHAHA you gotta be kidding me.. Just for fun.. now i'm gonna take this number that you pinned to me.. and chew it up and spit it out.. Pwithaa.. how you like that MR. man!! What? you think i'm on inside-out.. hehee i'm not.. so you can try and put me on again.. ok.. i guess now that you've been sitting here for 3 minutes and all of the water has already evaporated off your body.. i'll go on.. and i'll be nice and let you pin that silly number back on me.. go ahead..you should get outta here.. I just saw a guy who started WAAY after you leave T1.. get on your horse son!!
Me: $%*&!#$&%&#!###.. stupid shirt.


Well.. my loving friends, after hearing my story about the blasted shirt went out and bought me for my birthday (which was race day :)) a race belt. So no more shirt wrestling for me .. yippie! Now I just need to work on my tan so I don't blind everyone on the bike and run :) Thanks for all the advice BT. Maybe I'll pay attention next time. :)

111/143

I probably averaged over 20mph heading out but coming back was a little more windy and the hills seemed to be a little more up :).

I felt after the first mile or so that I went out a little hard but I think it was just because my legs weren't loose yet. after a few minutes I got into a pretty good rythym and was crusing along.. I probably passed as many people as I got passed by. well.. maybe got passed by a few more.. but who's counting ;)

The course was pretty much strait with only a few turns. There was a round-a-bout not too far from the turn around that was fun to navigate.. as well as turning off the course heading down to T2.

Down a short hill into the parking lot, around the T2 area to the dismount line.

I did have this one moment where I decided that it would be a good idea to take a drink of water while going down a hill. About half way down I realized what a waste that was as I could have been FLYING!! oh well.. next time I'll do my drinking on the flats.

Also need to get clipless pedals (hopefully this week) and figure out how to get dressed better (or find a nice top to wear during the swim).

Well.. having my race number on already i guess helped me. I pretty much rode in.. dismounted..trotted to my rack number. Racked the bike. Took of the helmet and glasses.. took a big swig of drink. donned my hat and was off.

12/143

use race belt to save T1 time. Next time i'll probably be using clipless pedals so I'll have to put my shoes and socks on here. Maybe I'll give the sockless running a try.

Wow.. i really ran sub 9 min miles??? I've never done that before. And I still feel like I could have started my kick towards the end a little sooner.

I came flying out of T2 and realized that I needed to calm down a little bit. I slowed down and got in a pretty good rythym that felt about right for me. The course seemed a little longer that 2 miles but judging by my time.. I'm sure it wasn't. On the way back I decided to have a little fun with the water folks. Since it was getting hot and I was sweating pretty good.. I got the lady to pour the cup on my head. They enjoyed that.. but not as much as I did :)

Loose 40 lbs.. and start my kick earlier.

Walked around and talked with my wife, parents and those two good friends of mine that gave me the race belt :) Ate a banana, orange quarter and had some gatorade and water. No soreness to speak of really so I guess I didn't push hard enough.. oh well..


My weight!! oh.. and that damn shirt. no more shirt for me. I'm gonna bare the buddah to the world next time!! :)




I'M SOOOO HOOKED!

Totally ready to do the next one.. but have some work to do on my swim endurance and my running. Hopefully I can drop 10 more lbs in the next month and be ready to go. Also.. after comparing me and my weight to some of the folks in this Tri.. I feel that with some work I could actually be competitive. I'm 28 as of race day so I have another two years before I move up into the more competitive age group. Hopefully by then I'll be ready to rock and roll! I also looke at the regular age-groupers (non-first timers) and would have also finised 3rd in that category. It is also worth mentioning that two of the top 3 overall finishers were in my agegroup. (so I was really 5 out of 9) At any rate.. I'm PUMPED and really proud of all the work i've put into this.

Thank you BT for EVERYTHING!! You ALL helped me get here and I'm gonna count on you all to get me even further!!!!