Had a nice swim, not as fast as I've been. I was trying to pace myself, long day ahead. About halfway through a couple of speed-swimmers from the next wave were passing through. I grabbed one of their feet and he carried me to the final turn. I think that was a great move.

I took my time, Sat down and got me feet clean before putting on socks.

I went harder than I planned on. This may have ruined my run, but I'm not sure it made a difference. Regardless, I'm really happy with this pace.

This is a huge improvement over last year, almost 2mph faster over twice the distance.

Again, tried to take my time to make the run comfortable. Sat down, put on sunscreen, tied shoes.

This year I opted for regular laces instead of elastics, and my T2 is only 10 seconds longer. That's SO worth it.

This
Run
SUCKED
My Balls

Yeah, I had a great first 3 miles, splits below. At that point I fell apart, it was all I could do to manage a 11:00 pace, which felt like a sprint. At mile 7 I ran into a friend and we ran 3 miles together. I found a good system. Run to a water table, walk while I drink a big cup of ice water and a big cup of gatorade. That actually made me feel good enough to run to the next water station. By mile 9 I was feeling better and I had enough steam to manage a decent finishing mile.
8:49, 9:05, 9:16, 10:07, 10:36, 11:05, 10:55, 11:31, 11:15, 11:07, 11:03, 10:51, 9:43

Run faster? I don't know what to do different. This is a really common thing with me. I totally fall apart on the run. Perhaps I need to do more bricks? More tempo runs in the heat... something. Oh well, I've got 8 months to figure it out before Mountain Man.

Great race. The volunteers are helpful, cute, or BOTH! Gotta love racing in the shadow of A mountain, great scenery.