Had a strong swim, ditched the flip turns after the first 200 in favor of extra breathing and counting aloud to people on-deck. My lane buddy was a guy and ridiculously in-shape minus my flabby girlieness. I still was second out of the pool to him, and had an overall solid swim. My exit left a little to be desired, but no time is given or taken for gracefullness. I wish I would have been able to warm up in the pool, but the woman in my spot in the lane took the full 10 minutes you are allowed.

warmed up.

Had an unusually good TI because I wasn't losing clothing, I was adding. I simply exited the swim, yanked the goggles and cap off before even leaving the building, sprinted across the parking lot (ouch, by the way) Found my bike with no prob. Threw on my cycling cap and scarfed a cliff bar, got the socks and bike shoes on without fail, got the gloves and helmet on without incident, and with a yell I was gone like a bat outta hell.

Not a damn thing.

I don't know what happened, maybe I had an unusually good swim and transition, but I didn't see a SOUL the whole time I was out there, save for the little punk who passed me coming into town (i'm going to find you...) and the lady on the mountain bike I passed on the first real hill. Traffic was calm, temperature was great, markings were excellent. There is, however, the issue of one particular hill. It starts with a sweet downhill out of the gorge and over a bridge- sharp climb up the bridge. Then there are some little grades, and then just one, huge, monstrous, long, climb. I chose the sit and spin route, and made it up without pushing, unline last year which sucked pretty bad for the ol' ego. After the hill though, I got a 2nd wind and threw it into the hardest gear and started moving. I swear to god this was the best 21 miles i've ever done. I felt strong, solid, and i wasn't sucking wind.

Harder gear up the long murderous hill.

Had a good T2 as well. If there was one thing I did well on this day, it was the transitions! My bike shoes come off easy, even though they're laced. I kept them on until I got into the T, and ran with them on (mountain shoes with SPD cleats). Found my spot with a little help in location by my thankfully red-headed boyfriend, felt bad that I squashed my neighbor's cliff bar in my sloppy run.

Not stepped on my neighbor's cliff bar...hope he didn't eat it later.

I suck at running. I had a bit of cramping in my stomach, my legs felt OK, shoulders were SUPER tight, strides sucked. I hate running.

Run faster.

Due to my diabetes, I felt like crap. i have to keep the pump on, and not eat a cliff bar. My blood sugar was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up, 450+. I felt good overall, except that my eyesite was weird...everything seemed to be "white ing out" instead of "blacking" out, like when you play with the contrast filter in Photoshop. According to the wonderful medics there, my pulse rate was really high, even after I took a shower and had water and took a shot of insulin and what have you.


High blood sugar.


Great for those of us just starting out. It was a good race for beginners, but there's enough challenge in it for those who are more serious. Everyone is really supportive..volunteers, racers, townsfolk.