I rocked the swim. I admit to having a sick love of the swim.

But I really don't like swimming with the boys. If I can go ahead and be a bit of a sexist here for a minute, the guys play rough. That's not to say that the women don't, they sure do, but it's a little harder to get clear of a 6 foot 2 280 lb Clyde than it is a 5'2 girl. It ended up being a default "women behind men" wave, except for a few brave elite women at the front. I put myself somewhere towards the front of the women, based on yesterday's performance.

I kind of face planted during my Baywatch-inspired run to the water, so I started swimming. And by swimming, I mean getting clobbered. There was some serious contact getting to the first buoy, but it seemed like after that, contact was few and far between. I made the first lap with no problems, pausing here and there to spot off of the water tower and the land buoys. I decided to take the brief run up to the beach and then back into the water to fly past a few guys and give myself more clear water.

Second lap was uneventful, except that now I was passing more and more women, and more and more men. I ended up being #11 out of the water for the women (I think?) and I lead the Athenas by more than a minute

Avoid contact.

I stripped my goggles and cap off as I was coming up onto the beach. I dipped my feet in the kiddie pool to get the sand off and headed up to transition. I was feeling AWESOME. I opened up my tri suit to prepare to attach my insulin pump (my #1 transition priority). I was pleased that the girl next to me (who had beat me the previous day) wasn't out of the water yet. I hussled to get my stuff on, ran out of transition, and went to mount and nearly rear ended someone who had just gotten on their bike. Ooops. Sorry dude.

Watch where I'm mounting.

Oh the bike.

I knew that this was my weak point. But after yesterday, I felt like I could give more than I had. So I decided to go all out on this, and see how it went.

Turns out: pretty well, actually! Since I had a pretty good position coming out of the swim, I was getting passed by people on speed machines...people who were going to win the overall. And then, I stopped getting passed. I made the first turn around, and headed back out for round two. I had been making an effort to drink, because I could feel the sun getting hotter and hotter, and there was *no* shade out there. I had a gel even though I didn't feel like I needed it, because I felt it was better to have it then to need it and be playing catch-up with my nutrition.

At the return point, I watched a guy on a *sweet* Orbea wipe out because the turn was a bit tight. Note to self: slow way down for that. And then I caught a glimpse of the girl who had beat me yesterday. NO! I started to hammer away (well, as much as one can in winds like that...) she caught me on the climb on the way passed the prison, we said hi, and she took off. But I kept her in sight! I didn't let her get too far.

And then things got bad.

I had been having some shifting issues when we first starting biking, but I assumed I has just not had the cadence to do a smooth shift. But now my cadence was right, but the shifts were just.not.happening. I was shifting up and then dropping back down, or it was just not shifting. It made this terrible sound about a half mile from transition, and I thought the bike was going to give it up right then and there. I desperately shifted, trying to find a gear to make the sound stop, and found it. I was happy to be in transition

GET MY BIKE LOOKED AT.

Made this a quick transition. I had set up my fuel belt with some water and gels in case I felt like my hydration was going downhill, but I opted against wearing it. I quickly chugged some Nuun water, tied the shoes and grabbed my hat and race belt. The leader was not far ahead of me, but she had a 44 second transition because she wasn't wearing shoes! Darnit.

Nothing, this was as clean as I could hope for.

Yesterday the run had been my strong suit. I had a fantastic run yesterday, and so I knew I could do just as well today.

I consigned the first half mile to shaking out my legs (and regaining the feeling in my feet and lady-bits..really need to get my bike fit done). I took short strides and just let it happen.

It was starting to get seriously hot. The sun felt like it was about five feet from my face. I decided to distract myself by cheering for others. I saw a girl up in front of me who I had passed the day before. I swear she was an Athena...and that just can't happen. I picked it up and passed her.

I took water at the aid station, and then headed back towards the finish area. What a tease to have to turn around and go right back out as others are finishing! But I was feeling strong, my form felt as good as could be expected...and I could see Barefoot Athena Leader! Ah! She's right there! I tried to step it up.

And far from being passed...I was passing! I do think I passed more people than I was passed by, which is an awesome feeling. I didn't walk, and I didn't need to really (thanks, marathon training!). I even got a compliment, "Nice form for this late in the race". That made me blush.

And another first...my first run in public in a sports bra. Oh dear. But it was too dang warm for all that. I only did it for like a quarter of a mile after I dumped water on myself, but then I was worried about getting sunburn and the couple thousands of dollars of tattoos I have on my back and ribs. So I zipped back up, tried to get my nose to stop running, pushed my sunglasses up and cruised on home, happy that I had put in a tough run, and a good race.

Nothing--as well as could be expected really, considering heat and wind.

I tried, very consciously, to take a good finish photo. And I failed. Sigh.

I had some water, and then went and stretched for a bit, packed the bike into the fit, took a shower, rode the slip and slide, took another shower, and waited for results to be posted.

2nd place! WOOHOO! To the same girl as the day before, who had been next to me on the bike rack. A really nice lady, who was very happy for her first sub 3hour. Plus, with my time, I would have placed 3rd in my age group if I had raced in that instead of Athenas. I was 20/46 for women (yeah MOP!), and somewhere in the MOP region overall, I suspect.

I'm really pleased with this race, as this is my Oly PR. I'm only a little bummed that I didn't break 3 hours, but I came close! You know, if I can race this well the day after doing a sprint...I'm going to do a double race weekend EVERY time! Seriously, I felt even better today than I did the day before for the sprint. Weird, huh?


Heat and not being adapted to Oklahoma wind really.

Bike gear changing issues.


I really like having the option to do the Festivus. It really is a lot of fun. All the Festivus participants got a special license plate, and they got called out at the awards ceremony.

My only airing of grievances is that I wish the overall results were posted online. I can see overall women, overall Athenas, AGs...but not a full compiled list of participants. And I'd kind of like to see age group/gender/OA ranks for each section of the race. But I'm a numbers junky, it's such a minor thing.