Stayed comfortably steady the whole way. Could have pushed harder.





Speed up more once I'm into a groove.

I had a really hard time getting my wetsuit off over the timing chip which was about the size of a 1970's cell phone. I'm surprised those timing chips didn't cause us to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Try to leave timing chip under wetsuit leg. Wetsuit came above chip.

I had issues gearing my Tri bike on the hills. Being a Tri bike with 650 wheels makes the gearing a LOT different from my road bike, and I only had one hilly practice run on it before the race. Most of my Tri bike rides have been flat.

I dropped the chain once while passing up a hill, which means I was to the left when it dropped. The person I was passing was still to my right and all I could think was, "is anyone behind me?" I started yelling that I was rolling and signaling that I needed to pull over; was so afraid of getting into someone's path. Finally was able to pull over safely and put it back on but now I had to get going back up that hill again. Came unclipped once too. Not sure what was up with that; I've never randomly come unclipped before.

Still was a bit faster than last year, which was a surprise since I haven't biked all winter.

Need to smooth out the gearing on hills with the Tri bike.

Fumbled with the Garmin a bit here (as usual).

Learn to use the multisport function on the Garmin so that I don't have to manually switch it from bike to run.

I was most disappointed with the run. The heat/humidity got to me and I was sluggish. I planned on running 8:34s, but just couldn't get my legs moving. Missed a water stop because I thought there was another at the end of the dirt turnaround point. There was not. I felt overheated and dehydrated.




Flash and Dash had a photo finish!


Better hydration.

Lack of training over the winter months. This winter/spring was spent on long slow runs in preparation for my first marathon followed by first ultramarthon. Did virtually no swimming or biking and most running was done at a long slow pace.

This race was not originally on my schedule since I knew I would not be in shape for it. But I could not stand being left out while my friends were racing! So I signed up at the last minute.

I was actually surprised that I was 4 min faster than last year since last year I had trained all winter and was coming off of my first HIM. So I was in much better shape than this year.

All in all, it was a good season opener training race. I have not done a Tri since Beach-to-Battleship last November; 6 months ago! So I was happy to start getting back into race mode.


This is such a great little local race. I mean... how many Sprints give finisher's medals to all participants? There are tons of awards and medals and door prizes, plus hotdogs with fixings. It's just a great family event!