I felt really good on this run. My leg was feeling good, and I was feeling strong, like my old self again. It dawned on me that my age group was small (7) and that I might actually place in my AG since I was pretty sure I was within a minute of the leaders.

This was good.

Not much to say here.

Be faster at getting my bike shoes on.

I was hammering on my bike, feeling strong, passing people, and feeling really good. All of a sudden, about 2.5 miles into the ride, I noticed my tires were really loud. I thought at first, "Gee, this is loud pavement." Then I looked down, and my rear tire was flat. Crap. There goes my chances of AG placement. Off the bike, flip it over, dumping out my hydration (Aerobottle).

I grabbed my kit and took off my rear wheel, ripped out the tube, found the problem (little sharp thing, why do you hate my tire so?? WHY??). Changed the tube, and got my tire back on.

I covered every part of my body in bike grease in the process. I wasn't sure what to do with the blown tube, not wanting to litter and leave it there, but it wasn't going back to where I got the old one from easily (Why won't you go to your home little tube? Don't you know where your home is?). I was rushing and stupidly tied it to to my rear water bottle cage. I made sure nothing was hanging off and took off.

Yes, I know, right there in black and white is proof that I am not very smart. I was just thinking about getting going.

I pushed as hard as I could on the rest of the bike course, but I am not Chrissie Wellington, and you I just can't make up that much time.

About 2 miles away from finishing the bike, (some of you could have predicted this, I am sure) that tube decided to unwrap from my rear bottle cage and wrap itself tightly around my rear cog set. Yes, I am an idiot and that was completely my fault, I shouldn't have put it there.

The knife on my mini-leatherman took care of the issue, and I left the tube there, next to an empty pack of cigarettes, a few bud cans, and a pair of sexy pink sparkly undies. I mention the undies because I actually paused in my ripping up of the tube and thought to myself, "I bet those things could tell some stories."

I hopped back on my bike and finished the ride. I noted on my bike computer that my actual riding time was 47 minutes (where I had hoped my time would be), so I spent about 20 minutes screwing around with tires and tubes.

Not get a flat

I was a bit bummed about the whole bike thing and ran the start of this with my head in the clouds. La la la la out for a jog. Oooooo pretty river... I finally decided I should run harder, and I think the second part of this run was much faster than the first part - which is as it should be I guess, except to say I was a total dub for the first mile and I know it. Again, no leg issues.

Awesome race, would definitely recommend it!