Seemed like everyone else took the course really wide, probably because the first wave ended up waay off-line, following the wroung bouys so the organizers chided us to pay attention. Having the sprint and long course layed out along the similar lines made it difficult as we had to pass the first orange bouy and then turn at a yellow one (guess they ran out of orange bouys).

A note to budding race organizers - orange swim caps are DUMB. Aren't there like a million other colors to choose from?

This is going to be a recurring theme: not burn out two weeks BEFORE the race. I didn't swim or do any core work for the entire fortnight prior to this race and although I don't think it messed with my performance, it sure screwed with my confidence.

It was a loooooong run up the beach to T1. I had done a bit of a sprint into the shore, so my "run" to T1 was pitiful and involved a little bit of walking.

Run the entire distance to T1

First lap (20.5Km) in 38 minutes, which is smokin for me, but on the second lap I had the pleasure of meeting the headwinds that everyone warned me about... "sure, Hampton is flat, but don't forget about the wind".

Despite having taken so much time off from cycling and weightlifting, I am pleased with this effort. Whether it would've been better with a more regimented taper... well, I may never know. Tried to stay aero for most of this, but couldn't seem to empty the fluid from my stomach while down; so had to get up for 5 minutes of every 20 just to get the water and gatorade to go downstream.

Time my peak better so that I'm not devestated prior to the start of the race.

Got 10 yards away from my bike and realized I didn't have my race belt. laa laa laa, I'm a moron.

See above. Overall, not too bad a transition, given the distance I had to move to get to my rack and out the run start corral.

7 minutes in, I began to feel like this 10k just wasn't going to happen for me. When I hit the first mile marker in 8:15, I realized why I felt so bad: I can barely run that fast fresh. Slowed it down a bit, but then it got stinkin HOT in a downtown segment, and this again led to more self-doubt. Fortunately a quick check of the watch at mile three led me to realize that 2:45 was out of reach, but my secondary goal of finishing in under 3:00 was going to be possible if I could continue to manage the 9:30 pace. I took about 15 seconds of walking at each aid station, which really helped. I had nothing left for the kick, but did finish with the same group of six that had been pacing each other for the final 3 miles...

And then, it was done. Suddenly, all the pain and leaden legs seemed to vanish... and were replaced with my heaving gatorade all over the boardwalk. mmmm, the taste of vicory! When can I do this again?

I sure would've liked to have run this race feeling like I did 3 weeks ago. Clearly, I either peaked too early or overtrained too late.

After wiping off and rinsing out, gave the kids and the wife hugs and kisses and received congratulations and happy father's day wishes. Stretched, and felt a little ill watching everyone else eating the post-race pizza. I drank some more water and took a couple of endurolyte tabs when a little cramp developed in my left calf - those things really work; 20 minutes later that cramp was gone.


Burned out, overtrained, and/or got sick two weeks before the race and ended up blowing off a lot of workouts. I think the overall effect was a loss of mental strength as opposed to physical. It sure would be nice to get a little faster, dammit.


Aside from the poor surface, this race was spot on. The cycling course had quite a few turns, but there were sooo many volunteers and police officers, you would really have to try to get lost to do so. An entire lane was shut down for both the bike and the run; its my opinion (but keep in mind I'm a bit of a novice) that Sommer sports did a fantastic job with this race.