two of the bouys were not inflated, and at least one women was dq'ed because she missed one of the bouys (i was a close second, but i saw the kayaker near the bouy and realized i needed to go over towards him). this was the first time i've been in wave one at a race, and i never realized how helpful it is to see someone do the course before you! wetsuit REALLY helped (THANKS KELLY!!!!).

oh, and kelly - WEEDS! thick weeds that wrapped around my neck! eeek! i'm usually SO good about weeds, but i got a bit creeped out. at least i had the wetsuit to protect me.

pay more attention to the pre-race announcements about the course. be ready with my finger on the start button on my watch, because there was no count down, the announcer just yelled 'GO!' so i was frantically trying to get my watch started while underwater. still, this was a good swim performance compared to the last few races (due in large part to the wetsuit - THANKS KELLY!!!!).

this was a fast t1 for me, despite getting out of a wetsuit for the very first time...and also my error in placing my transition bag under my bike, so when i went to take it down, it was stuck on the bag! silly me. still, it went well.

not put my bag directly under my bike.

this was slower than average for me, compared to the last few races. still, i placed 1st in my ag. i didn't have my cyclometer, so i had no idea what my speed was while riding. my best time of the season was at heart of lakes where i also didn't have my computer, so i wasn't worried. spent a lot of time in my aero bars, even bombing hills in them! hurrah!

drink less. it was a cool day and i drank too much. i had that sloshy feeling for a bit, and going into the run i REALLY had to pee!

this was a good transition for me. could have moved faster than i did, but the sequence of things was spot on otherwise.

nothing

saw a fellow bt'er on the run, doing his FIRST tri! go tom! anyway, the run started out great - first mile was <8 mm, but by the time i finished the first lap i was starting to feel tired and i really had to pee. i didn't slack off, but i also didn't push really hard. it was my last tri of the year and i wanted to finish feeling good, even if i didn't place. of course, it seems to be the races i want to place at where i don't, and the races that i'm happy just to finish that i place! oh well, can't complain too much.

run faster. drink less on the bike, maybe even a bit less on the run (then again, this is the first race in a while where i didn't get a headache afterwards).

as i got to the finish line, i saw my husband and girls. ella had made me a new sign that said 'go mama go!' with a drawing of a butterfly and an egg (she wanted me to know what she'd had for breakfast). after crossing the finish line, we met up, got some food, and then went down to the beach (well, after i went to the bathroom and rounded up my stuff from transition). bill had biked over with the girls and had a lock, so we locked everything up and played for a while. after the awards ceremony, we biked home (which felt really good, much to my surprise).


staying up late last night, getting up early this morning. alternating attitude of wanting to place (which stressed me out), and not caring (which probably led me to slack off a tad).


the race org didn't list overall results - just overall women and overall men, so for the purposes of this report, i used overall women since it was much easier figuring out my placement for each event. my actual overall was 88/138 (103 men, 35 women - no wonder guys kept passing me on the bike!). i raced as an athena and won 1st (out of 2, but hey, its still 1st!)! at the race they had me in both ag 30-35 and athena for some reason and didn't bat an eye when i won twice! 1st place athena and 2nd in ag. plus everyone had a finisher's medal, so this was a hardware heavy race for me! there were LOTS of people from the county cycle tri team. one woman won the short course, another won 1st in her age group, and her husband won 2nd in his ag for the short. for the long, another team mate won his ag. so, we had a great performance at this race! 6 trophies in all! :)

winning athena and 2nd in my age group was a GREAT way to end this season. i still have a duathlon and a few running races, but this was my last tri of the year, and i'm glad it ended in such a nice way. even though my performance overall wasn't much different than the other races i've done, winning still feels good! plus, now i can say i actually did a full olympic!