Started out nice and even. I was worried about the wetsuit so I kept it nice and even to make sure it was okay. I was prepared to stop at a boat and ditch the suit in the water if I had to. But as I kept going along the first long stretch past the dock things seemed to be okay. I tried to keep doing what I was doing and kept a nice rhythm of 4 strokes then a breath, 2 strokes then another breath and repeat. Caught a bad breath of boat exhaust which made breathing nasty and right as I was about to turn at the second buoy to hit the long stretch, the wave behind me caught up. It felt like that first section took forever so I was not looking forward to the long section. Just kept swimming and was able to find a person to just swim on their toes. On the back side, I felt the next wave catch me and at one point glanced at my watch to see it was around 25 minutes. Finally made it to the last turn buoy with 30 some minutes on my watch. I kept going but it felt like I was fighting a current. I could finally see bottom which was exciting and kept trying to set my foot down to realize it was too deep. Fought my way through the water and was able to get to shallow water and start to pull down my wetsuit. Right behind me I hear my friend Angie announce that she is right behind me. Climbed up the boat launch while tugging the wetsuit down and crossed the swim mat.

Let me first start by saying that this triathlon takes place at Frank Murphy's Park in Egg Harbor. I believe our race director Sean Ryan reminded the group of Murphy's Law which states "If anything can go wrong, it will." Sometimes "and at the worst possible time". I will now create a list of what Murphy threw at me today:
1. 30 minute weather delay because of thunderstorms
2. Wetsuit zipper broke right before the swim start

On to the what I could do differently, I was lucky the water was calm because that helped me set a PR in the water by almost 2 minutes. If I would have not had wetsuit problems and had more practice in the water/pool, I can imagine that time would go down!

After I crossed the line, the wetsuit stripper that was waiting for me was my Y buddy Heidi, I had the suit down to my waist and she asked if I was ready and she had it off in one strip. Then grabbed it and started towards my spot and quickly took off the cap and goggles, put on the socks and shoes and got the helmet and sunglasses on before grabbing my bike and going.

Nothing new to add to Murphy's List.... This was a good transition so I wouldn't change anything.

So onto the bike, started off nice and even. I didn't want to push the bike early on so I kept it backed off. Around 15 minutes into I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and started hitting the fluids. As I got closer to Sturgeon Bay, I noticed on the water that the waves were picking up and that I was really glad we didn't swim in that. The wind was getting worse but I was really glad with what I was doing so far. I was trying to figure out as I was riding which way the wind was coming and where I would have to deal with it. I pushed out of town and up a hill and a volunteer commented to me that it looked like it was going to rain. Well sure enough about 3 more miles into the course as I was heading to the square, the rain started just really light but started. Kept pushing it and had to deal with the rain actually hitting me like little pins. The climbing was getting harder with the rain but I was staying true to the nutrition. Just kept going and actually around the half way point, I started passing other people. It was on my way back around mile 35 or so that I finally saw the last person heading out on the bike. They were around mile 20 or so. Finally got back to Sturgeon Bay and started the two big climbs in that town. All was going really well until there was this turn on to Old Highway Road. I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember thanking the volunteers, watching for the traffic, looking at the puddle and as I was turning, my wheels caught the water and the uneven pavement and my tires slid out and took me and the bike all the way down. I remember feeling the bike fall on me and I am really not sure one way or the other if my head/helmet made contact with the ground. I do remember the police officer yelling "biker down" and some other athlete passing me. My feet unclipped and I was able to get the bike off and sit up. I did a quick mental check and realized that there wasn't any really bad pain so nothing was broken. The volunteer who was this nice older lady came running over and offered me the chance to sit down if I wanted. She talked to me for a few minutes and offered me a chance to clean up my left knee which was icky. I knew that if I didn't keep on going, I wouldn't. I only had 14 miles left of the bike course so I made sure the bike was somewhat okay and with the blessing of the volunteer got back on to keep going. I made it onto the next road and mentally was having trouble getting my speed up. The next few climbs were tough, which included the bluff which I seriously thought about walking. At the top of the bluff, I noticed that something was clicking on my bike. I knew I just needed to make it through to transition and I could decide where to go from there. I also knew that my family didn't need to see the ouchies too. Took the big downhill carefully and then just kept on going to transition. There were still bikers around me and I was happy to hear my family screaming for me when I got to transition.

So the Murphy list continues with a big add on....
1. 30 minute weather delay because of thunderstorms
2. Wetsuit zipper broke right before the swim start
3. Lots and lots of rain on the bike, which lead to......
4. My FIRST and crappiest time for a bike crash ever!!!!!

I still have more bike work to do like hill training but I was happy with the energy I used on the bike, my nutrition and honestly getting back up and going again after crashing. I could have very easily quit at that point.

Walked my bike from the dismount line to my spot and could not for the life of me get my bike up on the rack. It took a long time, I just didn't have the strength to do it. Then I changed my shoes, thought about changing my socks because they were soaked, ditched the helmet and the sunglasses, put the body glide in my pocket, picked up my number, fuel thing, and my Ipod and visor. Then started to walk out of transition. I wanted to make sure my body could handle this run after the fall.

So the Murphy list continues with just a small addition
1. 30 minute weather delay because of thunderstorms
2. Wetsuit zipper broke right before the swim start
3. Lots and lots of rain on the bike, which lead to......
4. My FIRST and crappiest time for a bike crash ever!!!!!
5. Not being able for the life of me being able to lift my bike up to rack it and that taking by far the most time in transition

I could probably use some tired transition two practice, but I did well considering my leg and shoulder was a mess.

I walked for the first good amount of time out of transition and past my family. They have a video clip of me saying how trying this race has been so far. I actually walked to where the run course crossed the finish line and then started doing 3 minutes run/ 2 minutes walk. As you can see by mile addtl lap data my first few miles were very much on pace and very even. I grabbed a GU when I went through the first aid sation and took that. I had my Ipod which kept me going between groups of spectators and seeing other racers. I took some more GU at the next aid station and was feeling really good into Egg Harbor. There were times I was actually passing people! I kept really strong until I got to the first big hill and then I walked that and I found myself walking a bit of the downhill until my legs could recover. I then was able to keep up the 3/2 at least until mile 8 when I realized that I had a big hill to climb and I wanted to be able to run when I got up to the top of the hill. So I walked mile 9 and 10 which include the killer bluff! They had ice up there and I used it to my benefit. Also I switched to 1:1 for the run:walk because my legs were starting to seriously fail and that was about a far as I could handle without a walking break. I finally made it out to the furthest point on the course and I realized that my time was going to be killer and I had killed the Murphy's law even though it tried to take me down. I actually teared up around mile 11.5 and pulled it back together when I got to the last aid station. I stashed my Ipod so I could hear everyone cheer for me and took that long last downhill into the park and to the finish line where my family and friends awaited!

Since the run went so good, there is nothing new to add to Murphy's list. The only thing that could make the run better is more practice time but I did so awesome that I am very happy with that! Here is the final Murphy's list:
1. 30 minute weather delay because of thunderstorms
2. Wetsuit zipper broke right before the swim start
3. Lots and lots of rain on the bike, which lead to......
4. My FIRST and crappiest time for a bike crash ever!!!!!
5. Not being able for the life of me being able to lift my bike up to rack it and that taking by far the most time in transition

I crossed the line and one of the med tent volunteers told me I could go get my leg cleaned up but I declined. I got a bottle of water, my medal and then went to go get my finisher's picture taken. I then gave them my chip and went to go tell and show my family what had happened all these hours. I wanted to jump in the lake but I was worried about the open wounds.


More training, but I PRed by almost 11 minutes under my fastest HIM up to this point which makes me very very happy!


I love this race. There were still 99 people who had longer times than me which was wonderful! I did awesome!!!