This is the first race I have done since breaking my jaw last year and I was pretty nervous about the swim start. I just planned on staying out front to start and see what happened. Keep your head tucked and go! Saw Will ( my coach) and he took some pics of me standing in the water. The swim started and my HR was through the roof. Very little contact and I was able to settle into a nice easy pace. My plan was swim IM pace and I did. After the second bouy all I could think was ...this feels really long. Had a little contact when I caught up with the waves before me but was able to swim through it. Got out of the water and looked at my watch. Last year I swam it in 27 mins...this year almost 45...UGH!!!!! Didnt realize the swim was really long. It set me up for feeling pretty bad about my performance ...but shook those negative thoughts off quickly. It was just a training day.

Not a thing

Kathy G handed me my crocs so I could wog to transition. This is a really long run to the back of transition where my bike was. I am pleased with this T1 time as I am not able to run yet

Nothing

I love this course. Pretty flat with rollers. Most of the roads ( except one) are in good shape. Started out and passed a bunch of folks and then settled into my pace. Saw a woman who had flatted at about mile 10 and thought about stopping to help...but it was a race.

Sang a little, ate an uncrustable every hour and sipped from my aerobottle every mile when my Garmin beeped.One of the intersections required us to stop...the cop was letting traffic through and I hit it on both loops. Kind sucks to have to stop for so long during a race. A cop also pulled over a driver about a 1/4 mile in front of me which caused me to slow way down as cars kept pulling over ! ERRRRRR!!!!!

On the second loop I chatted with one woman for a while.I know its a race but it helped to pass the time. Saw Beth as we passed through the lakes on the second loop. I love her bright orange colors...easy to spot her!!!!!. It got very windy about half way through the second loop. I actually asked several times for someone to turn off the fan!!! Made people chuckle!

Came into the finish and racked my bike. They made the aquabikers run for a while and go up through the chute. This sucked, as I had my bike shoes on and it really hurt so I walked. People kept yelling at me to run...so annoying!!!The time of my bike is per my Garmin as the race time included the walk to the chute.

After I got through the finishline I sat on the ground and took my shoes off. I put ice on my feet right away and it felt great. Did this for about 5 mins and then met up with Lisa, Rori and Anthony


Having had foot surgery 6 weeks before the race definately impacted my race. I was very happy overall with how I did given the fact that I didnt rest and was in the process of recovering.


This race was MUCH better than last year! No tearing down the course before people were done and lots of action around the finishline.

This year they had a sprint race too. The sprint went before the 1/2 on the swim. I think it probably would be better to have the sprint start after the half as I didnt get on the roads until almost 9 am and the roads were heavily trafficed on the second loop.If the 1/2 went first ( an hour earlier) there would probably be less traffic.