i did not get a split time for the swim because they had moved the mats that were close to the water (where the other faster swimmers were timed) up to the transition area by the time i finished the swim. still i hit that mat and it beeped, but did not give me a swim or t1 time. i can figure the combined time (44:29) by subtracting my other times from my final time. This is an unfair practice to make it so the last 26 swimmers do not get official times or t1 times. they were only tracked up to the 261st fastest swimmer. i was lucky that i had my stopwatch running and got out of the water with 40 minutes showing (the seconds are too small on the watch for me to see while running to the transition area. so my swim time would have been in the 40 minutes range. this was much faster than i expected. first, i chose not to do my full stroke where i swivel my head to my right and then back to my left to breath. this gives me a fuller swim stroke with my right hand, but made it more difficult to track where i was so i just looked down and then left to breath. second, in my training swims, i was swimming this distance in about 48 or 50 minutes, so i was very pleasantly surprised to get out of the water at 40 minutes.

learn to swim my full stroke and still keep track of where i am in the lake

i swam for the first time with a tight orange polyester cycling jersey and used a bib belt so i wouldn't have to take the time to put on a tshirt with my bib on it on my wet back as in the past.

this is an estimated t1 time since it was not recorded for me. it was a decent run from the shore to the transition area. my belt went on quick, my bike sandals, my headband, my medicine bag, and helmet went on without incident.

run faster

it was a good bike. i finished quicker than i expected. i was last out of the water i think and i passed about 8 or 9 females during the bike.

keep training and learn to get out of my sandals as i finish

it was a decent t2 in terms of how i remeber it, but about a minute to a minute and a half slower that i would have liked. the only thing i took a little extra time was having a drink from my powerade bottle.

a funny thing happened that i did not realise until after the race. i had put my socks in each shoe, and extra headband, and a gu gel in each shoe to transfer to my pockets for the run. i must have left the gel in my left shoes and ran with it. luckily, it did not break and probably provided me with some gel padding:)

i would guess i was running closer to 13:30 minute miles. i didn't feel that fast, but was steady. i was passed by a young female tri early in the run before we met up with the other runners.

more training at the longer distance. i had never run that far before in my life except for tuesday and thursday of the week of the tri.

very disappointed not to get a swim and t1 time. the 25 slowest swimmer and a couple other did not get swim times. it sucks to pay $65 for this and not get my times. this is not the first time that allsportcentral has not got my complete times this year. also, not enough volunteers on the bike course and not well/clearly marked in some parts. there were times that the course was marked for runner to take a different direction than cylclist and other times it was marked for "runner" and cyclists were also expected to go that way. consequently, i don't right at top speed as i'm trying to figure out which way to go.

positives: lots of water/gatorade stations and lots of liquids and bananas at the end. announced our names as we finished. great crowd support throughout. i'll do it again next year!!