Probably started too close to shore, it felt like I was boxed in for the first 200 meters or so. I felt really comfortable after that, sighted really well. The only rough part is that every swim I've ever done in Centennial, I start getting nauseous over the last bit of the swim. No fun controlling the gag reflex during a swim. I must have misread my watch getting out of the water, thought it said 25 minutes, it was actually 22! I agree with another report that it must have been shorter than last year, since that's a four minute improvement. Very excited to see my cheering section at bike out, and only slightly less excited to have two tires full of air.

Not much, other than make the decision to detour around the folks early on, but it seemed like a waste of energy.

No problems here. Didn't set the world on fire or anything.

Unfortunately my Garmin screwed up early in the ride, so I lost my ability to tell my speed and time. Plus, being in the first wave made it a little lonely out there. But, the ride felt really good, pushed in the right places, and I think made up 8 or 9 places on the ride. I had one guy stand up to try and challenge my pass right before Mt. Albert, I don't think he knew what was coming up, and didn't end up seeing him again after that. When I had someone in my sights it was good motivation to push a bit, otherwise I might have held back a bit. Still, this probably ended up being about the same effort as last year, minus the flat.

I don't really have a problem with the hills on this course, but I'm getting a compact crank this week and will be interested in seeing the difference it makes.

Nothing exciting here, except getting to hear as I left transition that I was the 23rd person out on the run course. Sure there's 1000 people who started later than me, but I'll take whatever good news I can get.

Even more so than on the bike course, it felt pretty lonely out there. Even though I've run the course dozens of times, for the first 3/4 mile I caught myself a couple of times wondering if I was on course. Weird. Again, lack of mental focus on my part made it tough to push without other runners around. Didn't really move up or down in AG standings throughout, pretty much every time I passed someone, someone else would blow by me a minute later. Ended up about a minute slower than last year. I felt really good coming up to the finish, slowed a little to check if my older daughter (3) wanted to finish with me, but she was fine just watching so I kicked it in, I saw the 1:50 and change on the clock, which made me pretty happy.

Push a little more. My legs felt fine, but aerobically I just wasn't quite there.

Met up with the family, hugs all around (better than any finisher medal!). One great thing about an early wave, no line for the massage or food tents, so I took advantage of both. We hung out for a little bit up on the hill and watched the finishers coming in, and headed out at around 10.


Need to focus more, I zoned out a little bit when there weren't other folks around.


Never any complaints about a CTA race. They make the trains run on time, and it's always a quality experience. Also fun in that this is a tough course for a "sprint" so it's a great lead in for longer distance later in the year.