wow. The morning of the race, the waves were huge! I was actually concerned about doing this. The race start was delayed so that the could move the course, and they added a bit of length I think. The swim was supposed to be about 800 yards, but they had to go out so much further from the beach to get "beyond the breakers" that it wound up being maybe 100 yards out, 800 yards down, 100 yards back in. Add 100 yards into 6-8 foot braking waves, and you have a brutal time to the first bouy.

The waves before us went off, and I could tell that there was a good current running. Some of the people got swept past the turning bouy, so I told my brother, who was starting in the same wave as me, that we were going to start way to the right. It was a good call. When our wave was up, I went running into the water, through a couple waves, under a bunch more once I could start swimming and began the challenge of this swim course. I would go under every wave, and I remember some guy next to me trying to go over and I looked back for him after I came up and he was a good 30 yards behind... I pretty much nailed the first bouy navigation though! I made the turn to go with the current (the only thing that saved my time) and took off. I actually stayed in a really good rythem the whole time. The wetsuit gives me a bunch of confidence while I'm swimming. Navigation during this part was still very very hard though. THe waves would come and push the bouys around so one sight (if you could see the bouy) the bouy would be straight ahead, the next sight it would be way left or way right. So it was really hard to swim a constant course, and I am sure I swam a bunch of extra length. As I got closer to the second turn, the one back into shore, I noticed a Coast Guard workboat out helping with the race. I said hey to them during one of my breaths, and gave them a thumbs up. All in all, there were people everywhere though from the waves. Probably a good 50-75 yards wide.

The way back in was crazy with waves breaking on you. I tried to catch a few, but the current (now coming from the left, pushing you right) was quite strong and you had to swim into it just to hit the finishing section. Almost at the end, I rode a wave in just to have it crash me down right ontop of a girl from the wave in front of me... I'm sorry if you read this!

Stood up when I felt some sand and checked behind me to make sure I wasn't about to get wiped out like some people and took off running up the beach. There wasn't very many people running. Thank god that was over.

More swim training. It has gotten a little better, but I need more. This would cost me a top 5 finish essentially.

1/24 Age Group

LONG run up to the transition area, with the timing mat ontop of the dune. I normally unzip my wetsuit, then take off my cap and googles and leave them in the sleeve while I am running. I just couln't get my swim cap off (see the awesome picture below!) It was just stuck to my head. Eventually I did, and stuffed them in my sleeve. I guess here, I lost both my googles and cap though, they fell out on the way to transition.

Went to my rack with the wetsuit around my waist, and got it the rest of the way off with no problems. Socks on, helmet on, sunglasses on. Grabbed my bike and took off running to the mount line, which was also really far from the transition exit... It was really crowded with the waves in front of me and people just stopping to get on the bike. Please move off to the side if you aren't going to keep moving... Hopped on the bike and took off.



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For some reason, I really struggled with getting my googles and cap off... This would have made either the swim or T1 a bit faster.

Commical... The results have this at 15 miles... which puts my pace at over 28 mph! hahahah right. I wish.

Anyways, I got up to speed plenty quick and got my feet into the shoes. Took off and easily got over the bridge right away. I settled into my cruise gear at about 23 mph into the wind. I don't remember much here, I was passing a ton of people though and the roads were so smooth. Oh yes, this is where I should mention what I forgot. I assumed my dad's floor pump would work with my race tires, which it didn't. Very annoying riding with what I knew were underinflated tires. Normally, I'll race at 115 psi or so, I was down at a shade over 100 I think. Meh, did't hurt to bad. While I was getting closer to the turnaround I started counting the people going the other way. At 20, I stopped and had a little dark moment that the swim had really really cost me. I shook it off and continued to play catch the person in front. The cool thing was, no one passed me! :)

Went around the funky neighborhood turnaround and I made up a bit of time because people were slowing down a ton to turn. My bike skills have gotten enough that I am confident taking 90 degree turns at almost full tilt in the aerobars, so I kept passing.

On the way back to the state park on route 611, I reached a very big gap in the course peoplewise. It was slightly down-wind, and I was going about 25 mph. With about 2 miles to go, I bridged the gap and passed the last people I would get on the bike. Went up and over the pedestrian bridge being carefull to spin up it and not mash to save my legs and went down the other side, where I got blocked by one girl (Ok, I get that she was the womens race leader, but seriously, when I'm yelling on your left, just stay out of the way when my closing speed is a good 5 mph faster) Sorry, rant off, I just hate slamming on the brakes when I have a good 34 mph of momentum behind me.

Here I am at the beginning of the leg:




Honestly, nothing. It was a good ride. A little more push early perhaps, but my sunglasses were completely fogged from the humidity.

1/24 AG

Not much to improve on here! I'm not sure what else could be eliminated to make this any faster!

Took feet out of shoes before arriving, hopped off bike at the dismount line, and ran into T2. Shoes on, helmet off, and on my way.

BEST T2 EVER! although, someone did have a :21 second transition.... I was second.

Run Run run... I actually continued to pass people here for this leg. Again, I actually remember just a little bit of the actual race.

Took off and ran a 6:25 opening mile I think. About a half mile to 3/4 miles in, some dude went by me like I was standing still... Impressive to say the least. At the one mile mark there was a horse, and I gave it a bunch of room. Got to the aid station at 1.5 miles and passed one guy right after it. He was probably the first person I have felt bad passing. He was in the pain room, and I just heard him say "Shooot" right as I went by. (ok, this is the PG version)

Not long after that I ran by my parents campsite with a whole bunch of their friends cheering me on. It was a perfect pickup and I knew I was getting closer.

The way back to the finish there was a guy a bit infront of me that I focused on. I just kept trying to close the gap, and with about .25 miles left, I caught him. Picked up the pace to finish and it was done.




Push harder. Train harder. If I can run sub 19 minute 5k's in tri's it would be awesome.

Jog, stretch. Saw my mom and my sister right after, and my dad. He had to drop out during the swim because of his shoulders and calf (he has had like 40 surgeries on them, so I don't really blame him) But he still did the bike. I waited around for my brother to finish and he crossed the line with a huge smile. I waited for the results and was shocked to see that I won the age group. There were some crazy fast kids there, the overall winner was 17!, and 3 guys ahead of me were in the 20-24 age group. Crazy. I guess the last two guys I caught in the run were from my age group also, and we all finished within 1:30 of each other.
Podium Picture:


If I ever get some more pictures from my mom, I'll post them up.


swim training....as usual.