Very slow swim. I was not prepared to cross under the ropes. (I should have been prepared for this...but honestly did not put a lot of effort into the swim training) I usually swim this in about 8:30...but a couple of things slowed me down. Crossing under the ropes hurt my time, but I also got passed by a lot of people. probably 12 or more. There were some very fast swimmers in the rear of the pack for some reason...and this really messed me up. I stopped at the end of at least 3 lanes to let people go by...because we were so congested. Don't know if they registered late and did not submit a time...or if I was really just that slow...but that kinda sucked. Also, I am kind of a big guy...and I almost had a wardrobe malfunction on the first lap. Halfway down the first lane, my left hand caught a timing strap (which had fallen off of the lady in front of me), then...my swimming trunks almost came off! Apparently, I had not tied them up good enough or something...but I almost put on a good show for the front row. This obviously slowed my first few laps down a tad.

Practice the turns more. Buy me some trunks that fit.

I swam in the clothes that I was going to ride in, so the only thing I had to do was put my shoes on. A buddy told me to take a 5 gallon bucket with me to sit on during the transition, which turned out to be great. I felt a little stupid carrying a bucket in...but I am really glad I did. Since I am a little bigger than the rest of the group...it made putting on my shoes a lot easier.

Not much...I obviously can be much faster than this with practice, but overall, I think it went pretty well for the first time. I rate this as below average because compared to every one else...it was. But I thought it was OK since it was my first time.

I thought I did really well here. My best time on 14 miles thus far in practice had been 59 minutes. I knocked over 2 minutes off of that time today. Very pleased with that. I was passed by quite a few people with TRI-bikes...but I also passed some folks too, maybe 6 people overall. Did this with a Diamondback Outlook Mountain Bike ($350)

Keep practicing. More seat time.

This transition was really good. I wore my running shoes to ride in, so there was nothing for me to change into. I did change shirts. I did not have a running belt for bib...so I pinned it to another shirt and just swapped shirts.

Up to this point, I had only ran one other 5K in competition and that was in Oct of 2010. My time then was 41:16. So this was a little slower...BUT, I know I have improved b/c I also swam and biked today. So I cannot be disappointed with this time. It was slowest in my age group and only faster than 3 other men in the whole race...but I weigh 280 lbs! So, I am tickled that I finished. It was very humid and by the time I got to the run portion, the sun was out and it was hot. I also am proud of the fact that I ran the whole time...I did not walk any portion of the 3.1 miles.

Work on losing the rest of this weight and the times should improve.

This was the worst part of the event for me. When I finished, I got me some water and tried to cool down. I ate 1/2 a banana...and then like a fool I ate 1/2 of a FRIED Chic-fil-a sandwich about 20 minutes after my race ended. Not the smartest thing I did today. I almost threw up after eating that. I held it together...but I will not ever do that again. I went back for an orange slice and some gatorade which helped settle my stomach. I stretched a bit and walked around some, watched the awards...then packed it up and headed home.


280 lbs.


This was my first (of hopefully many) triathlons. I was very impressed with FS Series. I thought they did a great job. The SRAC did an awesome job hosting this event. We are members @ SRAC and I was proud of our volunteers and staff.