Not a bad swim, especially considering the format with the run between pools, and the fact that I had to stop at least 3 times to fix my leaking goggles. I felt like I actually raced this swim instead of taking my time like I have my other races this season.

Fix my goggles before the swim!

Average transition. Found out that one of the women in my lane in the indoor pool (who had passed me) didn't get tapped for her last length and ended up doing 4 extra lengths! Someone had knocked my helmet and sunglasses off my aerobars and replaced them by hanging the helmet by the strap off my top tube. Didn't really cost me much time, but it was kind of annoying.

Nothing.

I had no idea what this bike course was going to be like. I've done the Tune-up Tri before, and figured it would be similar (and hilly, of course!) but the Tune-up hills are smaller and lots more ups and downs. This was pretty much one big uphill till mile 5.

At least drive the course, to have some idea what it's like!

Slow transition because I realized while I was on the bike that not only had I forgotten to put my bike number on (glad that race officials were few and far between!!!) but I forgot to get my run number out and put it on my racebelt. Dumb. Wasted a good 30 seconds at least doing that.

Get my head together before the race and make sure everything's laid out!

I think I mentally block out how hilly Highlands Ranch is or I would never sign up for another race there. I really wanted to go hard and push the pace, and I did a pretty good job until I hit the first of three giant hills on the course and had to walk it (along with the other two). It was starting to get pretty warm, too. Nice to see StMaas at the mile 3 aid station for a little encouragement and some hydration right before the finish!

Run up the freaking hills!

Checked the results, OMG, I was in 3rd in my AG. I figured there were still some faster people out on the course that hadn't been posted yet, but hung around anyway just in case. Drank some water, chatted with some friends, waited for the awards ceremony. Holy crap, I really did finish 3rd! And I was only a minute out of 2nd! I've always said that the only way I could place in my AG was if there were only 3 people...guess I was wrong, I can do it with 9, LOL. Small races are great, and this was a really nice change after doing the Boulder Tri Series in all their huge, super-competitive glory!


Mental block on hills. Just run up them! Forgetting my pre-race checklist. Not checking the goggles before getting in the water.


I really like small races and I think Highlands Ranch does a great job with their tri series. I will say that the high school volunteers this morning were kind of sketchy. Marking on the run course could have been a little bit better, but I managed not to get lost, so I guess it was good enough! I'm glad I thought to go down to the pool to see if I could get started early, I got to go 30 minutes before my (extremely late) scheduled start time.