I've never come out of the water this far ahead in the pack and likely won't again. I couldn't believe there weren't more people in front of me.

Nothing.

Good transition except I lost a few seconds forgetting about the gels in my bike shoe, which I then had to tranfer to my shirt pocket in the back.

Remember the gels.

It was good to drive the course ahead of time, because that big hill would have induced shock. I decided to gear down and spin up, since I had no real opportunity to train for something like that.

Maybe push a bigger gear up the hills.

Best T2 ever!

Nothing.

I decided to push hard from the beginning this time. I suffered more, but there is more of the pain cave for me to explore yet. This was my fastest 5k this year, though, so it worked, and I am happy with the result.

Nothing.

Stretching out and walking around with Hana. Drank tons of water and ate some oranges. I broke down camp, packed up, and swam with Hana, and then we went to the awards ceremony.


Hills, heat, time to train.


This was the first time this race was run in over ten years, so it was essentially the first time. It was in a small, northern Michigan town, and the type of triathlete was completely different than what I'm used to downstate. It seemed like more of a local race with many people doing their first race. It had a great, community togetherness about it, which I really enjoyed. Coming out of the water so far up in the pack was a thrill I'm not likely to enjoy again unless my band schedule takes me back there.