Other than the guy who crossed over from the returning lane and almost hit me head on, the swim was good. I went out a little too fast but reigned it in pretty quick and there were no disasters. I passed one swimmer from my wave and don't think I got passed by any orange caps so that's pretty decent. I did pass a woman from another wave, although not sure if she was doing the sprint or Oly, who would not get off me. As soon as I got alongside her she not only tried to speed up but kept pushing into me on the right. I would move right and she would move right again to knock into me. I was about to give her an elbow when she apparently ran out of steam and finally fell back. Next thing I knew I was hitting the beach.

Figure out which breathing pattern works best as soon as I hit the water. I kept trying bilateral breathing since that helps me swim straighter but in this instance I should have, and eventually did, stick with breathing on the right side.

By the end of the swim I was repeating "hit the beach, unzip, right sleeve first" in my head so I wouldn't freak out about getting out of the wetsuit. It worked and I ended up having the fastest transition time for my AG, 21 overall. So what if the pictures of me leaving the water show me contorting my arms to pull off a sleeve?

Not a thing.

The bike was fabulous. While I was surprised by how high my HR was and probably focused too much on getting it down, it didn't impede my performance and wasn't in a dangerous zone. I passed a LOT of people on the bike. My favorite was "chicking" guys on road bikes going uphill. No one that I passed ever re-passed me and the only ones passing me were on tri bikes. It was a huge difference from last year with everyone zooming past me on my hybrid.

Get in the drops as soon as I'm out on the road and stay there to reduce wind resistance.

I had trouble with my shoe (attached to the pedal still) scraping the ground as I went around corners which slowed me down. The ground around my transition area was muddy so I was trying to wipe them on my towel before shoving them into socks which were sticking from the moisture. Then for some reason I thought I needed a swig of water before taking off for the run out.

Practice corner with bike shoes attached and not waste time drinking.

I got passed. A lot. People I passed on the bike passed me, people who were miles behind me on the bike passed me and I think even a few people who finished the race might have started the course all over again just to pass me some more. I passed two people.

I think I might have done even better had I not felt a blister forming between my two smallest toes by then end of the first mile. I think that if I hadn't been in race mode I probably would have quit running. The grit from T2 had evidently lodged between those toes and it was mightily unpleasant. I kept up the pace though and finished strong.

Everyone else was faster but this was still my fastest ever 5k time. I'm proud of that.

Focus on keeping my breathing even.

I grabbed a Gatorade bottle, turned in my chip and picked up my medal then sat on a bench to assess the damage to my toes. With my sock off I could see two humongous blisters, one on each toe. The sight alone made me want to cry so I hobbled off to the first aid tent where some lovely older ladies cleaned and bandaged me up. With the band-aids on I was able to put my shoe back on.

I cheered on some finishers then looked at the sky and decided it was time to start heading out. Normally transition doesn't open until the last rider is through transition but they were making exceptions this year with the storms brewing. As soon as I got to my rack the sky ripped open with a crash and the rain came.

As glad as I was that I was in my car by the time the torrential downpour hit I was incredibly impressed by the HTFU shown by the racers who were still out on the course finishing their runs. What a great story they have to tell!


Grit in my socks, a few extra pounds and just not being in peak condition yet.