While this is no PR, this was EXTREMELY challenging and a big victory. The waves and subsequent current kept pushing me away from the course and I am just not strong enough in the water to fight back. I also got a lot of water in the face, despite being able to breathe whenever/whichever way I wanted. It was hard to time. I really considered giving up - a common theme for me in races before I hit the turn buoy. But this was really scary and lots of people were struggling. If this race had happened two years ago, I wouldn't have made it! At the turn buoy my watch said 9 mins and some change - crazy! The return trip sure was a lot better and I swam until the last minute.

This was a little slow... It was a very long run from the beach, where the timing mat was located. But even in comparison to others, I am not proud. I struggled a bit with my wetsuit on my legs.

Boy is it fun to do a short course! The first bit of each loops was into the wind, but it wasn't more than 2 miles. The rest was actually fun - I've been working on my cornering and I took more risks than earlier in the season. This was definitely a challenging course.

Okay, this was much faster than I thought it would be! I really liked my transition spot.

Again, a very challenging leg. Nothing was easy at this race! I chugged along as best as I could, but did walk up a few steep (to me, anyway...) hills. Only at about mile 2 did it finally start to get warm, pretty lucky weather day!

I stretched a bit, talked to Lance, and packed up. I learned I was the first Athena so I waited for awards. Until the last minute I was regretting waiting. It took soooooo long and they were going to call Athenas first and then decided to save them for last - drat! However, it was worth waiting. I am always grateful for a win and the other two gals were really enthusiastic, which made me really proud of the group in general. They were actually pretty close to me in time, so it was a good "race".


This was just a challenge for me in all ways and I am very satisfied with how I handled it. I've been slacking a bit in the last few weeks, which I suppose might contribute a little to my abilities.



I liked this challenging course and the RD was responsive to e-mails pre-race, an anomaly. I really wish he'd started awards sooner. The winners must have waited 2 hours. I didn't realize everyone had gotten their stuff packed and removed until I found my bike and one other on a single rack in the former T area. Oh well, next time I will put everything in my car and drive the car back since the parking lot was then available. The race supports the MN Storm swim team so the place was overrun with kid volunteers. They can get a little goofy and loud, but they actually got the job done very well. I would absolutely recommend this race.