Started a bit wide, but this helped me from getting knocked around. I didn't push terribly hard on this swim

Push harder

Although I've done it at most of my races this year, I decided not to put the shoes already on the pedals because of the sharp 180 turn a few hundred feet out of transition

Set up my transition closer to bike out; run the line that I picked out when warming up that had not much sand on the boardwalk

Crashed at the turn-around!!! Maybe it was the new bike, I don't know...this was the 2nd in 3 races with the bike. I was into the lead by about mile 4, and I'm not fully confident in my running ability, so I needed to take any chances and just go as hard as possible on the bike. I knew I took it pretty hot into the turn around, but I thought I was in control until about 2/3 of the way around when suddenly I was sliding across the pavement with my bike on top of me. The chain came off partially too, so I got up, covered in blood and sand along the left side of my body, put the chain back on, and managed to get up and go, still in first place, but the guy I had just passed was right behind me, and ultimately a pack of four of us took it the rest of the way into T2. Still a PR on a bike split for me.

Not be a jackass and learn that crashing wastes a lot more time than slowing down a little bit more.

Came in extra cautious following my crash, so I was in fourth by about 10 seconds. I fiddled with my Garmin watch a little bit; the auto multisport wasn't set up properly, so I was trying to get it to switch from MPH to min/mile while I was running through T2

Double check my Garmin

I came out of T2 resigned to the fact that I just might not win the race after all, because I'm not super-confident in my running ability. However, I figured that my other lingering goal of a sub-18 5k was possible, and it definitely wouldn't hurt if I wanted to win. I kept looking at my Garmin, trying to hover around 5:40/mi, and I noticed that I was quickly catching up to number 2 and 3 and I would have them by .5 mi. Number 1 took until pretty close to the turnaround to catch. My second mile was definitely the slowest, probably in the neighborhood of 6:05. Being in first was sooooo cool though. People are so supportive!

Push a little harder in mile 2?

visit EMTs


my immaculate bike handling abilities


I absolutely LOVE this race. While it would have been nice to have won a race earlier in the season/my career, this one seemed fitting. I've done it now all three years it's been in existence and made dramatic improvements each year both in time and place. DQ is awesome at putting on fun, quality races. This is definitely a race that I'll come back for a fourth.