I went into this race without any real goals. It was going to be just a fun race. But I did want to at least break 1:30 (and I only really thought of that because that was James' goal). But this race didn't start out fun - at all. This has got to be one of the worst swims I have ever had. It is mostly my own fault. I got distracted before the race talking to my team mates and forgot to warmup. Then we all decided at the last minute to wear our wetsuits since the water was 76 (we could have worn them anyway because it wasn't a USAT race). My final mistake was forgetting to take my asthma medicine. About 100 yards into the swim, I began to wheeze. I wore my sleeveless wetsuit (which I haven't worn since last year) and it was tight in the neck. I think I would have been better off without it on. I couldn't get a decent breath. It got so bad that I thought I was going to have to drop out of the race. I tried everything - I swam on my back for a bit, I completely stopped a couple of times hoping I could get my breathing normal (what I really wanted to do was pull the wetsuit off). Somehow, I managed to finish the swim. I figured any chance of finishing under 1:30 was gone.

Warm-up!! Make sure I wear the wetsuit in practice at least once before race day each season. Not forget to take my asthma medicine before the race starts.

This transition went fine. It was a little slower than it could have been because I didn't run from the water to my rack, like I normally would. I did a slow jog until I got to my rack and used my inhaler.

This was the best part of the race for me today. I had the most fun! I used my inhaler during T1 and hope the asthma issues were over. My breathing seemed alright on the bike (I rarely have asthma issues on the bike). This race has a hilly bike course. I was a little worried about it because it has been a couple of years since I have ridden it (the tri club went and rode it while I was in Rome). So, I decided to just have fun and go as hard as I could. I would just take the hills as they came. I had a blast. I was passing people going up hills and going down! I was passed by a couple of men from the wave behind me (they put the men 36+ in the last 2 waves), but noone in my AG passed me on the bike (or any other women). James' wave started 5 minutes behind mine. I told him before the race that since I had to come from 15 min behind at White Lake and pass him, it was his turn. Since his bike is stronger, his plan was to pass me on the bike and then try to keep the lead through the run. I was sure he would do it, after my swim. But he didn't catch me on the bike. We were racked side-by-side in transition. And while I was in T2, he entered. I made it out of transition faster and he was never able to catch-up again. His overall time was still 3 minutes faster than me though. :(

Nothing

This transition went well except when I knocked the bike next to mine off the rack. So, I had to take a few extra seconds to pick it up.

This run was much slower than I was hoping for. I am a bit disappointed in it. My asthma symptoms kept starting to come back, so I had to keep backing off of the pace a bit. I was still passing a lot of people though. Plus half the run is on dirt paths (and it rained a lot yesterday). So there were lots of puddles to dodge and mud to run through.