I never knew 20 year old girls could be so vicious! Our wave was quite small so I thought it was going to be an easy start without much contact. Boy was I wrong! I seeded myself at the front because I'd like to think that I am a pretty fast swimmer. When the horn went off, it was complete chaos. We were all bunched up together and basically swimming on top of one another. I was getting pulled and scratched. I tried to kick it up and pull away but I guess the girls next to me had the same idea and I couldn't get away. To make matters worse, we were swimming in milfoil that was about 6 inches longer than the surface of the water so it was all bent over. It got wrapped all over my arms and body. It was so disgusting! It was like swimming through wet yarn or something. So while I was getting the crap kicked out of me by the girls in my wave, I was freaking out about the nasty lake weeks clutching on to me. Yuck! I thought the horror would never end, but it finally did after swimming through it for about 200 yards. At that point I finally got away from the mosh pit and rounded the first buoy.

Now I encountered my next big problem. And it is a big one at that. The sun. Silly me, I decided that I didn't need to wear my metallic goggles because the sun wasn't out, but literally right before we set off, the sun creeped over the trees and was blazing on the water. After I went around that buoy, I could not see anything. I could barely see the people in front of me. I did a lot of breaststroke trying to figure out where I was. I think a lot of people got off course because I was following some people I thought were going the right direction but ended up sending me way off course. I lost a lot of time.

After I rounded the last buoy, it was smooth sailing all the way back to shore. No more crowds or milfoil to wrestle with. I swam in as far as I could and got out running. As a side note, when I got home, I noticed I got a big bloody gash on my arm from where a girl sliced me with her fingernail. Now I can talk about the "war wounds" I got from doing triathlons.


Start out faster or slower. I am not sure which would have been better in this situation. I felt like I was sprinting pretty hard but I just could not get away from the pack. I wish they would have trimmed the lake shrubbery a bit. I should have worn my metallic goggles. I couldn't see a thing. Plus I think the course was long.

I had a great spot in transition that was only a few yards away from the swim exit. I felt really good coming out of the water and ran over to my stuff. The only problem was that I did not get my wetsuit down around my waist fast enough. I could not reach my cord. But I finally got it and it came of fairly easily. As I was getting my shoes on, of one the guys from the first waves was heading out for the run. I got on all my stuff and headed out.

I guess I should arrange my wetsuit cord so I can get to it better. I had a little trouble cleaning off my feet because they were covered with grass clippings.

I think I did fairly well (for me) on the bike. I am still not fast and need more work but I was able to pass people which is better than my last race. Hills still seem to be a big limiter for me. I had to walk my bike up half of Day St. It is a steep hill but it is not long (about a block). The good news is I am seeing improvements. So there is some benefit to this training thing after all.

A lot of people were passing without announcing. One girl even passed me on the right. Oh, well. I should expect people to be passing me.


I just need to do more training.

I had jelly legs when I got off my bike and ended up walking through trasition. I still don't have bike shoes so I just racked my bike, took off my helmet and headed out on the run.

Do more bricks.

I am still not a strong runner. I used my usual strategy of running as far as possible then walking. I feel like I am getting better. I can run a lot farther before getting tired. My knee was bothering me a little but I thought it was probably just because I was tired. At the 2nd mile, there was a water station and I tried some Amino Vital. It was really good! It did not bother my stomach at all. I am pretty picky about my sports drinks. I have tried a bunch of different brands and have not liked any of them so it is nice to finally find one that I like. After the water station, I ran most of the way to the finish. I was keeping pace with a girl in front of me. I ran into the finish and was DONE!

I am doing my best to train smart in this area. Since both my knees are naughty, I am building my distance slowly. So I will see small improvements as I keep training but I don't expect to be running 5 min miles anytime soon. I am just happy to be able to run pain free so far.

I walked around a bit. I got half a cinnamon and raisin bagel, a bannana, and some water. I walked back to my stuff and stretched. Packed up and drove home.


Evil-man-eating lakeweed, evil-thrashing-clawing girls, evil-shining-in-my-eyes sun, evil-too-slow legs, and evil-hurt knees.


This was a fun race. I think it was pretty well organized. I did not walk around much after the race but it seemed like there was a lot of free goodies being handed out. I looked up my time for Danskin last year which is the same distance and pretty much the same course and I beat my time by 5 seconds. I will consider doing this race again next year.