Started out feeling very strong. Rounded the first corner of the triangle very quickly, although I later realized that the first leg of the triangle was the shortest, by far. Was not completely in the back of the pack, which is good for me, and I had some people to draft off. This course had all the buoys to the right, which is great for me, since I tend to pull to the right. I had no problems going off course at all, stayed right on line. Had hoped to beat 20 minutes, but I'll take it, my fastest OW swim yet.

The time is a pretty close estimate. They counted T1 and T2 in with the bike time in the official results, but this is what I had on my watch. This transition was a little longer than I wanted, but it included a run up some stairs and across a road to the transition area.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

My goal was to beat 20 mph for an average, which I did, so I feel good about that. However, I had some water bottle and turning problems. I had a Poland Spring water bottle which did not want to hold its shape, and about three miles in it fell out and to the side of the road. Being the good citizen that I am (and the fact that there were several people around and I was paranoid about getting a penalty for abandoned equipment), I stopped and went back to get it - probably cost me a good 30 seconds. I continued on my merry way, still maintaining sub-3 minute miles. When we came to the in-road turn around, there was a guy right off my back wheel as we came up on the cone. He said, "you're fine, go ahead", so I started to make my turn around the cone. He then cut inside me, sending me wide in my turn. I went onto the shoulder, into the sand, and down I went. I was fine, but my stupid water bottle shot away, and I probably lost another 45 seconds getting put back together and moving again. Started cranking again, and was still holding 20 mph overall. We hit a stretch of very rough road, and three times I caught my water bottle as it was sideways and about to fall out. It finally shot out again, and this time I let it go. I was going about 25 at the time, and it shot into the shoulder, so I wasn't worried about somebody else hitting it. And yes, I drove back later and picked it up.



Use a better water bottle...

No real problems.

Ahh, the run. I live for the run. I was shooting for sub-7 minute miles today, but the course had other ideas. It was mainly off road, going across fields, over roots, through woods, etc. There was one stretch right near the beginning that was so steep and rough it felt like I was mountain climbing - you could almost lean forward and touch the ground ahead. That section was no picnic coming back down either. I felt like I gave it a good effort, and I have to be pretty happy with my overall rankings. Also, I passed 18 people, and was passed by no one.

Even though I didn't meet all my goals for today, I had a great time. I was smiling all the way home, thinking about how far I've come in the past year. It was one year ago today (I remember because it was the day before my birthday) that I told my wife that I wanted to learn to run, and maybe even do a triathlon. I put on my crappy old sneakers, and went 4 miles, walking for a few minutes every mile, and covered the distance in almost 50 minutes. Today I finished my fourth tri and have done a marathon and multiple other running races. I'm planning on a 1/2 IM in August, a marathon in October, and I'm signed up for Ironman Lake Placid for next year. Life is good.