Was a good swim. I waited until a few hundred yards in and things kind of got settled to start using the power stroke. A few weird zig-zag swimmers kept causing problems.

Start further in front so that I can power stroke sooner.

Due to the rain this was a slow transition. I had my bike stuff in plastic bags under a towel. So I had to get that out on on me, with socks, and then load up my GU's and pills. Long way to go from my rack to the bike exit. (Just about the farthest you could be) and the field was muddy by then which had also seen ALL the other racers go through it in the earlier wave.

Plan a little differently for rain Probably carry stuff in my suit pockets under the wetsuit so that I do not have to deal with it in transition.

Ranks for this were not available. I knew that the first 12 miles were flat and that it was easy to go out to hard. My coach said to take it easy here and I did. I stuck with the plan. I passed at least 500 peopl on the bike and was passed by maybe 50. It was challanging due to the rain. This was the first rain in 7 weeks and I was worried about all the oil coimg out of the road surface. Top speed was 38.8. Felt my back start to tighten up a little and thought it might be an omen for the run.

Lose weight and improve my run so that I can really apply myself on the bike and not have to hold back so much.

Same issue with the first transition dealing with all my stuff in bags and in the rain was a PITA.

Scrap some of the rain protection.

Rankings also not shown for this. After 2 miles of running at about 9 min/ mile thing started to come apart. My back started to hurt and I went to a run/walk strategy which later became walk/run. Pain became a constant companion and was equal opportunity through my body: neck, quads knees, etc. None of this was cramping (that came afterwards). I fought through it all and came to the realization that my goal time (6 hours) was lost. Just gutted out the rest so that I could complete the sucker.

I wish I could relate some anecdotes or some local flavor here, but I was totally submerged in my own personal hurt locker for 2 and a half hours! I ddi use two packets of bio-freeze which were wonderful. However, do NOT wipe your eyes with that hand after applying it! Man that stuff stings!

Lose weight and work on my run. Do even more and longer bricks.

Got a beer and pizza, had a massage where I had a wicked quad cramp!


Weight and lack of proper conditioning.


What really made this race was doing it with friends. Harold, John Tracy, Scottie, Jennifer, and Alan! While I only saw Harold, Alan and Scottie out there it was still awesome to share the experience with them!