Felt great for the whole swim. I swear it flew by. I love swimming in the lake there, it's clear enough you can see people swimming near you.

What's to say? No wetsuit so that made transition pretty easy.

I found this to be even more challenging this year thanks to a strong headwind. I didn't even realize how bad it was until I did the sprint the next day and felt the difference. The headwind seemed to hit during all the false flats which made it even more difficult for me. Uphills are already my nemesis. On a plus side I got over 40 mph on the first big down hill, wow was that fun.

Not sure what I could've done differently, I worked my ass off. I would've like to have gotten a better time, but at some point "try harder" just doesn't cut it.

I was really exhausted from that bike ride, I took my time in transition, trying to figure out if I could even do the run (never mind the fact I'd signed up for the Double and had the Sprint the next day).

I can't believe how much I had to walk on that second loop. I was just so exhausted from the bike ride. Also, it felt like the way back had a greater number of uphills, which is also where the head wind was hitting.

Overall I was pretty unhappy with my race. I found it challenging in a way that surprised me (and I did the sprint last year so I wasn't blind going into it). I was miserable for a good part of the race, and I don't do these things to be miserable, I do them to have a good time, maybe push my athletic abilities a bit. By the end of the race I was seriously questioning if I should be participating at all.

I'm sure if I'd gotten more sleep the week before and had a low-key week at work instead of the insanity I had things would've felt better. But that's hard to control.


I was really disappointed that the Athenas went almost last this year. For the most part bigger athletes mean slower times so to put us last meant a really sparse run course. Totally demoralizing. Having crowds and group energy is one of the things I like most about a race. It was so late by the time I got to the run they were actually picking up the volunteers from the course (and yes, it was way before the official course closing time). I liked it better last year when we were in the second wave.