I'm not sure this could have gone much worse. I started in the back and toward the outside. I think I must have charged into the water too hard and been a little too hyped. I banged around with some people in the beginning, but by the first buoy I was gased. I rolled to catch my breath, and then tried to get after it again. My goggles started to fog, so I tried dip them in the water. At this point, the nose piece popped off of one side. I was not happy, so I had to flip over and put them back together. In retrospect, It was probably good for me to be able to catch my breath. Once I got going again, I was able to get in a little bit of a rnthym, but I stood up way to early coming out of the water because I was DONE with the swim (mentally, not physically)

I should not have gone into the water that hard. I would take my time getting into the water and swim at my own pace. I was way too over eager to get going. I need to get non-smoked goggles as well for swimming in overcast conditions.

I felt pretty good about my T1. The time was a little slower than I wanted due to be gassed from the bad swim, but I felt fairly good about the process. I came in with my wetsuit around my waist, and went to work on it. I got a little hung up on my left heel. I went with the bike shoes and helmet and was ready to go. I ran the bike out of transition and was able to jump on and get going.

I had two glitches in my transition. The first was putting my wetsuit down. I walked around my bike and to make sure that it ended up on top of my bag. I should have just chucked the thing and not worried about it. I also was indecisive about wearing my sunglasses (it was overcast and I had dark lenses in). The sun didn't come up until we were at the starting line, so I didn't have a game plan. Once I put them on, it seemed dark so I got rid of them. Next time I'll create a plan for this.

The bike was where I got my race back together. After getting killed on the swim, I was able to get up and go on the bike. I was looking for any with the number 25-29 on their left calf and worked hard to get by them. Only a couple of the older guys flew by me. The 22mph average was fast for me, but I pushed as much as I could to try and make up for the swim (can you tell I'm hung up on the crappy swim). I felt good about my timing on unbuckling my shoes and getting my feet out. I was able to jump off and run the bike right at the dismount line.

I would have been a little more agressive with the passing. The course was tight, so it was a little hard to get by when some of the slower riders were hanging out on the left side.

T2 was solid. I got off the bike very smoothly and started into the transition area. I almost leveled another guy that was running with his bike when he tried to turn and cross in front of me to get to his rack. I had a bit of a problem getting the bike onto the rack, so I need to work on that. I got rid of the helmet qickly though. I had my socks rolled up and in my shoes and Yanks laced up, so I was able to get them on quickly. I wasn't even thinking about how spent my leg were as I was started to run out of transition

Pracitced popping my bike into the rack before the race. I also need to get used to running without socks on, as this would save a lot of time out of T2.

The run was good, not great. The first 5 minutes of the run were a little bit of a struggle to keep a steady pace after really airing it out on the bike. As I past the first aid station, I grabbed a cup of water and threw it in my mouth. It then hit me that I didn't need the water, but I felt cool grabbing it like they do on TV (haha). A few strides later, the stitch in my side told me to stop trying to look cool. I was pushing my pace as harde as I could over the last two miles, working hard to gain ground on anyone in front of me. I noticed a couple of the more disciplined runners passing ont he way back after I had passed them on the way out. The finish was in soft sand, which I was not a huge fan of. Overall, sub 7:30 miles is pretty good for me and I was happy with my run.

I would pace the first half of the run a little better. I went out harder than I should have/

After crosing the finish line, I walked for about 100 yards as a coold down, drank a bottle of water and ate half an orange. Probably not very sufficient, but I felt okay.


I was a little eager to get going at the start of the race. I should have conserved as much energy as I could during the swim, knowing that it was going to be my worst event. Had I relaxed and just worried about getting out of the water, I would have had a lot more energy left and probably finished the swim quicker.


Great race for a first timer. The volunteers and race staff were very nice and the competitors were great people.