I signed up for this race last week as more of a workout than an actual race. Once I saw the swim course, I was a little worried. That 1.2 miles just looks pretty far to me.

Since I wasn't racing, I just lined up at the back and took it easy. I practiced my kick rythm and just kept telling myself that I was almost done. My goggles fogged up at the last turn and had to ask kayakers if I was headed in the right direction.

I've never swum in waves before and parts of this swim were pretty wavy. I wondered if it would bother me, but it didn't, and I thought it was kinda fun.

In the end, I felt like I could have kept swimming if I needed to, but I was pretty happy that I was done.

Nothing much.

There was a bit of a hike from the swim exit to the timing mat, and I started to hurry, but then remembered that this is a workout for me, not a race. I really just assed around and enjoyed it.

Nothing.

This bike leg was ridiculous! At the first U-turn (early into the bike), I turned left to follow a couple of cyclists (who weren't even riding the course). When I had to stop and clip out for a red light, the light bulb went on. It was a two mile detour. I don't fault anybody other than me. I didn't know the course, and at the second loop I noticed that there were two U-turn signs up.

At that point, I had a good laugh and told myself that I was full on in bike tour mode. Stopped at the aid station at mile 21 to refill my aero bottle and then stopped at the rest stop to use the porta potty. I didn't really care how much time I took.

The headwinds were hellish but the tailwinds were fun. At about mile 52, I encountered the gust front of a rain storm. The winds were really swirly and I tried like hell to out-bike the oncoming sheets of rain. The rain finally won, and I really wished that I'd tried to bike a little harder during the bike leg.

A couple of times my back tire started to skid on me, and at that point, I just slowed way, way down. I was close enough to the finish to know I'd get there if I didn't do anything dumb.

This was my first ride in real rain and I'm glad I got the experience.

Lordy, if this were a race, I'd say just about everything. Know the course would rate pretty high on the list.

Other than that, even with the winds and rain, I really enjoyed being out on my bike.

Pizza.


At this point, I'm pretty much racing to my ability. The aquabike really is a nice intro to the HIM distance.


I thought the volunteer support was excellent and there were lots of police controlling traffic. I felt very safe and well supported.

The only reason I didn't give this race a 5 is that I thought the bike course was a little *boring* in some stretches. I know you have to work with the roads you have around the body of water you're using, but a 5 ranking is the ultimate, no?

Overall, a good day.