The first 150 meters were fantastic. The water was a bit cold but it wasn't "shockingly cold" like I was expecting. Since one person starts every 15 seconds, things really started to back up around the 150 meter point because it was pretty hard to navigate around the 'slower' swimmers unless you passed them at the wall. The last 25 meters were spent breast stroking because there was a backup of 5 people without a way to pass them (other swimmers were continuously swimming in the opposite direction).

Submit a faster swim time so that I hopefully won't have to deal with the backup.

I ran to the bike, rolled my socks onto my feet, put my shoes on, and then hesitated when I realized that I completely forgot to bring a long sleeve jersey or jacket to bike in. I was quite cold (the pool water was pretty cold plus it was overcast out) so I knew that I would be freezing on the bike - and that's when I remembered that I had worn a hoodie in the morning pre-race. It wasn't ideal for a race but it was better than nothing so I pulled it out of my bag, yanked it over my head, threw on my sunglasses and helmet, and took off.

Remember a long sleeve jersey/jacket so that I don't have a hesitation next time.

I didn't push too hard during the first lap because I didn't want to burn out. I really pushed it during the second lap and I passed 8 people along the way. I should have drank a little bit more water along the way but all in all, it was a good ride.

Drink a bit more water. Push it a bit harder during the first lap.

I racked my bike, rid myself of the helmet and hoodie, snapped on my race belt... and took a quick moment to re-do my ponytail (shorter hair = hair in my face = annoying). I took off after that.

Stop being a girly girl and forget about the crazy hair.

I saw my friend, PT, about 30 yards in front of me as I was heading out of the transition area. I hollered that I was going to catch him and he started laughing and turned around to wait for me. We ran the entire 5K together, walking once for about 20 seconds so that he could get his bearings around the 1/2 mile point. We chatted the entire time and it was nice to have some company during the run. We picked up the pace around the 2.5 mile point and sprinted to the finish together.

I should have pushed it a bit more but it was nice to run with PT and just enjoy the race.

PT and I grabbed some water and oranges, walked around a bit, and then we cheered on the rest of the finishers and waited around to see the age group rewards and raffles.


Making sure that I have everything that I need in the transition area.


I thought that this was a very fun local race that I would definitely like to do again. The swim was a bit congested but that is sort of expected when you have a pool swim. I thought that it was well organized and well supported.