I felt like I swam straighter than usual, and I was maintaining the best effort that I could sustain for the distance. I was very disappointed with my time. I wonder if the course was on the long side since the times overall looked longer than last year.

I think I've been going through the motions a bit in practice lately, so I will plan after this to push the envelope more in practice.

I remembered to pull off my goggles and cap on the way to transition. I took a few extra seconds to wipe the crud off of my feet. I also had to be careful to take my bike off the rack since the bikes were so crammed together. Otherwise, I felt pretty fast. My helmet went on easily, and I had a good run to the mount line. (ranked 21/112 females and 3/15 AG - need to speed it up a bit)

I still need to learn how to mount the bike with the shoes already on there and get into the shoes while riding.

This was a very challenging course. There was quite a climb coming right out of the park. The down hills were fast, and not necessarily straight and the uphills were pretty long and sustained. Nonetheless, the half-way point came up quickly. I felt pretty confident going downhill, but I did hit the brakes once or twice when I was going pretty fast and came up on a blind turn. The climb back into the park was pretty rough, but I felt okay. I stood up for it, hoping that it would help me to get my land legs going a bit. I only really stopped pedaling at the very end down the final hill to recover a bit before the run.

I think I just need to keep seeking out hills to build more climbing strength, but I was pretty happy overall.

I forgot to try to take my helmet off on the run to the bike rack, but I didn't lose too much time on it. I struggled a bit to get my shoes straight as the tongue and heel folded up a bit. (ranked 30/112 female and 4/14 AG - slower than I thought)

Grab the tongue and heel and tug on the elastic laces a bit to get feel in more smoothly.

This was the most challenging run I have ever done. It was definitely dicey footing. I started with short quick strides and was pretty happy with the pace for that kind of run. My resp/HR started to get away from me a few times, so I walked on a couple of uphills to get it back under control. I sipped a few times from my bottle and dumped water over my head the second time past the water station. During the last mile, I was attempting to push my pace to the end, but I must have been getting tired, because I caught my left toe and fell down twice. The first time, I fell flat on my face, but was able to jump up and keep going right away. One woman passed me when I was down, and I didn't have enough kick to catch her again. The second time, I caught myself on my hands and did not go to my knees - very frustrating! But fortunately not much time lost and no worse for the wear. I pushed a bit to the finish line, but didn't have much kick left, so I think I gave it all that I had today.

I need to keep working on the strengthening exercises that Dr. Maggs gave me to try to pick my feet up and get more kick-back with my left leg. This was a good wake-up call.

I rushed to grab the camera and drinks for Sam and I. Then I watched her finish and got some photos. I didn't really walk much or stretch. I need to do a better job of that.


More climbing strength and more sure-footedness would have made a big difference in this race.


The race venue was great and the race was a good challenge. The communication from the race director could have been better. There was one intersection on the bike course with lots of loose gravel that seemed like too much of a hazard and probably should have been cleared for the race. Also, there were not nearly enough bike racks, so the transition area was WAY too crowded. However, the volunteers were great, and it seemed like the timing went well. The post race food was pretty standard - bagels w/pb, pretzels, cookies, gatorade, water, etc. Overall, I had a great time, but there is room for improvement.