This swim was a joke. We got conflicting information on how it would start. One guy came over and announced that due to the low water level they would walk us over the timing mat then out to the first buoy and would sound the start horn there and deduct time from our chips later. Then at the start line a different guy told us we were racing the second we crossed the mat.

Fine, the horn sounded and we ran off into the water. And ran. And ran. It finally got deep enough to start swimming so I dove in and five seconds later I was scooping sand. I finished the jog to the first buoy then tried swimming again. The water was deep enough but the pack was so crowded I couldn't get anywhere. Half my wave was still running through the water and it seemed like everyone else was doing the breast stroke. This continued through the entire course. By the time I got out of the water my heart rate was about 20 beats faster than a normal swim from all the running.

Instead of seeding myself properly I would have put myself at the front so I could have actually been swimming instead of muddling along.

This is just a guess. My T1, bike and T2 splits are combined in the final results and I missed hitting my lap button at the right times, but I know approximately how off I was hitting them so....

After a lengthy run in from the beach, which is included in the swim time, I got to transition where a volunteer was yelling that we had to go straight down to the end of the transition area then down to our rack to stay out of the way of exiting cyclists. This was new information and I had no idea where my rack was from that aisle so I missed it and had to backtrack. My shoes were encased in two bags to try to keep them dry, which didn't work, and the straps weren't open so I lost time dealing with that. Then, a few steps away from the rack I realized I hadn't put my computer on my bike. I thought of going back from it but instantly rejected the idea and headed out to Lake Shore Drive.

Have transition set up properly.

Without my computer to tell me my speed or cadence I felt a bit lost. I got into what felt like a comfortable gear and took off. My friend had come out of the water first for our wave (competitive swimmer growing up. I was jealous of her then and I'm even more jealous now. Damn my parents for not letting me take lessons and join the swim team!!!) and was nowhere in sight but I knew the bike was her weakness so I hoped to catch her. By then I figured the race was a disaster and I might as well kill it to beat her on that section and walk the rest because she's a better runner than me.

So I killed it. I think the course was about 11 miles and I was flying the whole way. Based on my HR and feel I figured I was doing close to 20mph most of the route. I caught my friend on the back end of the ride at least a mile or two from the end and flew past telling her I'd wave when she passed me on the run.

The course wasn't well marked though so on the return to transition I thought we were done and started slipping out of my shoes only to realize we were passing transition quite a ways then turning around and heading back in. Swerving back to correct my direction my foot slipped off the top of my shoe and I skidded. My shoe hit the ground and I bumped from it and thought I'd lost it so I did a hard brake to a complete stop only to find it was still attached. By the time I got going again my friend had passed me by and that was the last time I saw her until the finish.

I finished the ride with my feet on top of my shoes, my ego bruised and totally ready to give up.

Remember my computer. Pay more attention to the route map then corner someone and find out exactly how the course was laid out since they changed it the day before the race.

Here again I'm estimating my time since they didn't break transitions out.

By the time I got to my rack and dumped the bike I was sick of racing. There was a volunteer a few feet away from me calling out directions and encouragement. When he said, "Keep moving, you can do it. You're almost done," I replied, "I'll get there when I get there. The finish line isn't moving." It wasn't a pretty place.

Oh, and my socks were wet so putting them on wasn't fun and it was while putting on my wet socks that I recalled that I'd meant to tape my toes to prevent the blisters I'd gotten during the last race. Except I forgot because it was pouring buckets of rain while I was setting up transition and...seriously, I was so done.

Keep moving. Keep moving fast. Not give up.

I ran out of transition with my heart rate somewhere around 180 and focused my breathing to get it down to 175. Still high but at least a rate I knew I could run with. I was going slow and felt cramps forming in three different muscles so I went even slower.

A woman from my wave passed me and I realized how slow she was running so I figured if she was passing me I was pathetic. I picked up my pace to match hers and plodded along. Another woman from my wave passed me and I started to feel ashamed of myself. After doing a long, slow systems check I decided that I was capable of trying harder and that I'd rather finish the misery with a dramatic crash and burn than be a wuss.

I picked up the pace and picked off the first woman who had passed me. By then the second woman was at least 100 feet ahead and growing the gap. I decided to pace her and see what happened so I stuck with that for the next mile. At that point I was feeling more recovered and the crampy twinges in my legs were gone so I figured I'd try to chase her down.

It was slow going but I cut her lead in half over the next mile. We were getting close to the end and going around the last loop so I knew I'd have to do better to get past her so I stepped it up a couple more notches. At the last turn around I was hurting but I knew we were close. When I could hear the announcer's voice over the speakers I started my final sprint and passed her then pushed through to the finish line.

As I crossed the last timing mat I felt my stomach convulse and swallowed hard but I think there's a pretty good chance there will be a less than flattering finish photo of me.

Pace myself better.

After crossing the finish line I grabbed the closest table and hung on for a few minutes waiting for my HR to drop and the dry heaves to subside. I had an avid audience waiting to see if I'd hurl but my stomach was evidently completely empty because nothing ever came up. Once that stopped I grabbed a water and a banana and looked for my friends.

Later when I checked my monitor I found that my HR had spiked to 202 during that last sprint. Yay for me not having a heart attack!


Stupidity, lack of training, forgetfulness and a loser attitude.


Lots of volunteers but none of them knew what was going on either. Counter-productive.