I did awesome on the swim! I have finally overcome my fear of the GREEN. I took my time getting in the water so as to put myself in the back of the pack and set my own pace. I didn't freak out once. YEAHHHHH!!!! Spent the rest of the time slowly passing people, but swimming my own race. My navigation was pretty on target. (that's a first)

The improvement from this swim to the last one I did was amazing and did a lot for my confidence. Next time around I will work on picking up the pace a little bit, but for this race it was perfect. I was very happy with it.

I am too lax in my transitions. It weird my adrenalin rushes so fast I go slow just to calm myself down. I'll have to work on it between now and August. I loved the wetsuit strippers, they were awesome.

I need to practice transitions. Clear my head a bit. Run faster to my bike.

I was second in my age group coming off the bike, but this is where I made the biggest mistakes of my race. I didn't drink enough. I only had 1 1/2 gallons of liquid on the bike (Accelerade and Water). I completely forgot that I had endrulytes on me and didn't take them at all and then I only ate four of the goos I brought. Hmmm. With 3 miles to go I got my first twinge of a cramp in my quads, but ignored it. I was working on my pace. But after having a discussion with myself decided to drop down a gear. My goal had been to maintain 90 cadence throughout which was damn impossible on the hills, but I did a good job on the flats. I had never changed gears so many times in my life. I was very happy with my bike. I had a good time and felt good.

Problem was I didn't realize how dehydrated I had already become. Getting through the bike comfortably was fine. But the muscle cramps weren't from fatigue so much as dehydration.

I need practice. I should have stuck a water bottle in my sports bra.

It didn't matter how much I tried to drink on the run. It was too late. My goal was to get through the run with as little walking as possible, but at 250M out I realized I might have to walk most of the 13.1 miles. It started out with my quads cramping. When I tried to stretch those out my hamstrings started cramping. They alternated like this for a while and since they weren't going to stop I decided to try running on them anyway. Then my calves joined in. The best part was when my ankles started cramping and I had to do this funny throw my leg in front of me thing. It was great. The aid station people were amazing. I would walk away from them with two cups of water one of gatorade that tasted double strength, wet towels and a banana. I was triple fisting it. I drank one of each and poured one on me. At one point though, pouring the water on my head started to shock my system its like my heart skipped a beat. The bananas weren't helping the cramping so after eating 3 halves I stopped. Bananas and my stomach only like each other in small quantities. And running I didn't want to push it. I ate 3 goos.

Take endrulytes and be better hydrated from the start. I also need to work on my hills. Because of the cramping I couldn't even use the huge downhills to my benefit. My quads and my knees were in agreement on their hatred.

I sat down. Should have done more, but I hurt too bad. Getting in the lake would have been good to cool me down and loosen me up, but I hate having my friends and family wait for me.


Dehydration!!! This is the hardest race I have ever done in my life. The thought of doing a full IronMan in the near future doesn't even seem plausible. I don't think I'll try my hand at an IronMan for at least 3 more years. I've got some things to work on. Although the run was a big slap in the face. I learned a lot about what I need to work on and how important hydration/nutrition are to long races. You can push yourself mind over matter for two hours, but six is a completely different matter. Your body has more say. (at least in my case)


I can't give this race a best because it hurt so bad, but it was extremely well run and the volunteers were amazing. There definitely could have been more post race food and the bagels were not tasty. Who knows maybe by the time I finished it was all gone. Otherwise awesome.

And to all the BTers I met, it was great to see faces you knew on the course. Although after the race I swore I would never do this race again... Now that I am walking a bit more normally I am pondering it. Can't let the course beat me and then not give it a second shot right. --Pain remembered is never as bad as pain present.