I lined up after the 3rd wave took off. There was a bunch of us talking and joking when this guy swims up with this scared look on his face. His swim cap said "3" so we yelled at him to start swimming. After he took off we all had a good laugh when this other guy swam up, we did the same thing until he took off. He made it to the front of the boat when he pulled up absolutely freaking out, breathing hard. Did the guys encourage and help him? Hell no, they yelled at him to get going " now is not the time to wimp out. Go, man go!" He picked the wrong time and place to freak out, in front of 100 guys with no sympathy. :)
When my wave started, I lined up in the front middle of the pack. I got off to a good start. After about 200 meters I realized there was a guy who was swimming my pace. I dropped in behind him and just tickeled his toes for the rest of the race. I had such an easy swim, but this was good and bad because as it turns out he wasn't my pace, he was slower. So my times were slower. But it was good because I only had one contact in, and once my goggles fogged up I couldn't see a thing, nothing, nada! I could just barely see his toes. So I follwed him around the remaining 800 meters. I wanted to thank him for the pull but once we got out of the water I couldn't see which guy he was so I didn't :)

Not lose my contacts before the race

I had a good T1 everything went as planned

Nothing

I was a little bummed at my swim time because I figured I wasn't in the best bike and run shape and the only way I would PR would be if I had a great swim. And because I was slower than the last race I knew there was no way. I hopped on the bike and started up the first overpass. My legs were not happy. But I knew I would have some time before the Canon street hill. I rode around in a nice easy gear because I wasn't going to PR anyway. I did notice this group of guys riding nose to tail and my first thought was "I can't believe these guys are drafting like this" then as I passed them I realized the guy in front was riding a beach cruiser with about 5 inch wide wheels and the guys behing were sucking wind like nobody's business all while doing about 10 MPH. I don't think they even knew what drafting was, just out for a ride. At the base of the hill I was in gear 39/21 and my legs were screaming. I knew I was in trouble so I just found a good cadence, sat up and spun. At Nimitz I made the turn and again found a gear that I could push. Nimitz is decieving because it looks flat but it almost has as much gain as Canon. This guy flies past me and I caught him again in about 1/2 mile as he was sucking wind, crawling along. I guess there are some home field advantages in this sport. Once on the base there are rolling hills throughout. I tried to minimize the effect of the uphills while maximizing the down. By the time I hit the turnaround for the second loop I felt great! I stood up and powered up all the small hills and just flew down the downhills. When I hit Nimitz again, I put it in 53/11 and just hammered. I was laughing as I could hear my friend calling me "El Falcon" I made the turn onto Canon, started to power downhill, then sat up like a big chicken. What the hell was I thinking, I can't descend! I just rode back nice and easy...too steep for me thank you!At the base of the hill there is a sharp left turn where they park the ambulance (nice thought) and as I was preparing to make the turn this guy passes me on the right. He almost wiped out on the curb because he was going way too fast. What a jerk! The rest of the ride was uneventful.

Nothing

I think that my T2 time must include some of my bike time. I was really moving in T2. I even forgot my race belt. I just took off my hemlet, slipped on my running shoes and left. There is no way that took 3 min. Plus I don't think I rode 20 MPH on that bike course.

Get faster, I guess and remember my belt

I started running and felt really fast. Then the really fast legs felt like they were moving too fast. I knew I would be in trouble later but I just kept going. I got to mile #1 and looked...9:18. Great, mile #2 (9:20 something). After I passed mile 2 I see a friend who was across the street at (I thought) mile 1 something. I knew I had about 10 minutes on him. I wanted to see if I could beat him to the 5 mile mark. I picked up the pace, then boom. He passed me before mile 3! I knew I was slow but come on! I got really tired of people passing me. I probably lost 50 spots just on the run alone. At mile 3.5 we run down a back road. I call this area the Energy Lab because it is between the buildings so there is no breeze for 1/2 mile and it just sucks the energy out of you. This is where I can feel my pace slowing. At that time a group passed me, but this girl in the group slowed as she passed and we were running side by side. I tried to match her pace but couldn't so I let her go. Right as she got in front I didn't want to give up so I again matched her pace. It was hard, but I started to feel comfortable. At about mile 4.5 she stopped for water. I just looked over to her and said "Nooooo you can't stop now" She dropped her cup and started running again, but I couldn't get up to her speed again. So I had to let her go. At this point I was looking at the water and boats and really enjoying just being outside and doing this. About 1/4 mile later I see her starting to fade. I tried to catch her but never did. She stayed within 30 yards of me the rest of the run.

Get new legs

Walked to the beer garden.
I ended up finding the girl I was running with and thanked her for pacing me. I told her I was really fading. She laughed and said she really needed me with her because she was fading too.


Big fat belly, short slow legs


I did end up with a PR, by 1 min over last year, mainly because of the bike! This reminds me of my favorite qoute "Results happen when your motivation is pure" - Brad Kearns. I didn't have a good race until I just wanted to have fun. Once I stopped stressing over getting a PR, that is when I had a good race.