Okay, I have not really done any OW swims esp in the ocean, and I knew this was a mistake. I was in the final wave so I started out last...but I held my position all day! LOL

The swim is my strongest event, but there was a fairly strong current and a pretty intense undertow. I got out just past the waves and started swimming freestyle. The first three strokes I got smacked and swollowed a ton of saltwater each time. For the first time in my life I swam like a priss with my head out of the water the whole time. I felt like I did really well judging the current for getting to the bouys, but then on the last leg the undertow got me. I lost 2-3 minutes after stopping swimming just trying to get past the undertow. I was breathing really hard coming out of the water and it was just from trying to get past the undertow. Overall, I was very disappointed in my swim. I knew I would come in last overall, but I didn't want to have the slowest swim time.

It was at this point that I realized I forget to start my watch at the beginning of the race! Novice jitters I guess.

Practice OW swims in the ocean or possibly never register for a saltwater swim!!

The time includes coming across the dunes. I decided at the last minute to wear socks and they went on fine. I had been worried about getting all the sand off, but the wah bottle worked just fine. I was glad just to get clipped in with no problem.

I thought it went really well!

I was pretty happy with the bike. I felt really good at first, then after about 5 miles, my legs started getting REALLY weak. That's when I realized that I had not taken a gel in T1, nor did I have any on the bike!! This was bad. I had water and Electro-Mix, neither of which have any calories. I did the best I could.

My other problem was my bike shoes. I had dried my feet and put my socks on but by 1/2 mile I had a lake in the toe box of my shoes that never drained.

When I exited the park I got the police escort just behind me. I never saw anyone in front of me so drafting was never an issue! LOL At one point a 3-4 foot snake ran in front of me and I am very impressed that I didn't wreck! When I got to the turn around, I waved my arm and told the deputy "Come on let's go!!" He laughed and said I could lead the way. I would say about 2/3 of the bikers that I passed cheered me on. It was great...what fun it was!


Ride my bike longer distances of course!!

The majority of people were finished by the time I got to T2. I think they were all standing there and I think everyone of them cheered me on. I started crying. It was really great!

Toward the end of the bike I realized that I had a freebie gel in my bag from the race packet. I got my shoes of and took of the socks. I decided to take my chance with blisters without them because I knew I would get them with them. Ate the gel and didn't drink any water...bad move again! The last time I bent over and stood up, I hit my head on my bike and mine and 2 other bikes fell to the ground....ugghh!

Drank water with my gel but there was a race guy there yelling for me to go (in a good way) and saying that there was water just out on the run! There wasn't!

Not knock a bunch of bikes over!! LOL

Now I was in trouble. I had had about a liter of fluid on the bike but I was feeling sick from the gel and no water, and I was getting really hot. I walked the entire run course : ( Just before the one mile mark I passed the guy who was next to last. A race official car stopped and gave me Gatorade and water before I made it to the water station at mile one. Then they stopped about every 1/2 mile and gave me more cold water.

I made it out and just after the turnaround I was fading VERY fast. Even walking I should have been able to keep a 16 min/mile pace. I stopped a couple of times and considered throwing up, but didn't. It was at that point that I realized that I needed to stop drinking. I had gulped about 1 1/2 liters and that was what was making me sick. I started pouring it on my head and that helped because I was getting VERY VERY hot now. I had some really bad cramps in my shoulders, and then there was the big deer/horse fly that bite me really hard right on the middle of my butt! He died for that!! LOL

I had about 1/3 mile left to go and a group of walkers met up with me. It turns out they were racers, MOPers my guess. They came out to walk the rest of the course with me. There were about 5 women and then a couple of guys came and joined in. They saw the scars on my legs and couldn't believe how many knee surgeries I had had, and that now I was doing this. I then told them that I had only been training for about 8 weeks, and they said they were amazed. Then they asked if the beautiful children at the finish were mine, and they couldn't believe that I was able to train with such young children. They really pulled me though that last bit. I am very thankful!

The only people left at the finish line were my family, one race official, the 2 ladies that I had met on the beach, and the group that walked with me. The clock had been shut down but they were keeping my time manual. The race photographer was even gone, but my dh took a picture of me crossing the finsh line.

Soon after finishing the very nice lady that had signed me in the night before told me that I had won a medal and placed second in my division. Seems there were only 2 novice females.

I was too tired to cry at that point so I am doing it now...

I did it, I had finished! It's been a dream for so long and now it's come true! Thank you to God and my wonderful family! Thank you also to those on the BT site who have supported me through all of this.

Managed my nutrition better. Of course gotten better at running.

Stood and talked for a few minutes. Looked at the race results. Picked up my bike and stuff. They had already taken the racks away and mine was the only bike there, just sitting in the middle of the parking lot...thank goodness it had a kickstand!

I asked the lady that brought me my medal if they had any bananas left and she brought me an entire bunch. The whole site was almost packed up!

I exchanged names and numbers with the ladies that I met on the beach then packed up and went to the hotel.


My weight mostly. You can't expect to carry an extra 140# and be able to swim like a fish, ride like Lance, and run like a gazelle! LOL


All in all---can't wait to do it again! Only smarter and faster!!