What an abysmal swim. It was ugly. But I don't mean my swim performance, I felt pretty good throughout. I mean my wave in general. I seeded myself in the middle to the outside thinking I'd have clear water and could go around women if I needed to. That never happened.

The gun went off and we waded in to start. I quickly realized I had not chosen a good spot because there were slower women all around and I was stuck. I started to swim and almost immediately I came up on a woman doing breastroke. *rant* I understand breastroke being the "go-to" stroke. I get it. I've even used it on occasion with small frog kicks. But when that is your only stroke, why swim in the middle? Just please start in the back or on the outside so the rest of don't get kicked. *end rant*

It was crowded. Based on my time I want this swim to have measured long but I know in the back of my mind it probably wasn't. The first 150 yards of this swim was just ugly. I got kicked in the chest, someone tried to swim over my legs until I could get away and it was very crowded. The only positive thing was that it was bad for everyone in the wave. Out of 35 women in my AG, only 4 went under 10:00 for 400y. For my wave (35-39 and 40-44) there were only 11 women out of 81 women under 10:00.

I don't know. I've seeded myself near the front before and I had trouble with faster swimmers coming up behind me. I've started in the back but then I catch a lot of the slower folks. This time I thought I had a good spot but I guess I should have started closer to the front. Even with my low swim volume I can still swim under 2:00/100y any day, especially for only 400y.

This transition felt faster but it was such a long transition area, it was a long run from my rack to the exit. I considered running to the end of transition holding my bike shoes so I didn't have to run so far in my shoes but decided that I would probably block the way for someone else.

Nothing. This was a decent transition for me.

This was actually a pretty good bike for me and I know I could have done it faster. I actually held back in a couple places and chanted "don't burn all your matches." The part of the course on 441 was great and the back roads loop was hilly. I liked the hills because it kept me from getting bored and I could catch A LOT of people on the hills. I'm a decent climber so this helped me.

I wanted to go sub-45 for this ride and I didn't miss it by much. I know I'm capable of that time but I knew I didn't want to blow up. I usually take a gel at the beginning of the ride but decided to skip it this time. I drank just over half my bottle of water and felt good.

Not much. My bike training has been haphazard all summer so this was a really good ride for me. I *know* I could have done it faster but knocking a minute or two off this ride might have meant suffering on the run.

Not too bad. I decided ahead of time I was going to put on socks for the run so that probably slowed me down. Not getting blisters was worth the extra 15 seconds it might have taken me.

Luckily, I didn't have far to go from the entrance to transition so a short run in my bike shoes. I racked my bike, got my shoes off, took off my glasses and helmet and got my socks and shoes on. I clipped on my race belt and grabbed my hat and fixed it as I was moving.

Try to move faster. But honestly, it would be challenging to go much faster.

This run was advertised as "flat and fast." Well, it wasn't but it's not a big deal. Of course, I was thinking the hills sucked when I was doing it but I liked that we ran one loop instead of looping around twice in the park.

I started running and was feeling pretty good but I think I started out a little too fast. I glanced at my watch at the beginning and knew I'd have to run a sub-30 min 5k to get close to my goal time. My running has been more consistent lately and I feel like I have gotten faster so I thought it was possible. Anyone who knows me knows the run has always been a problem for me. I always give up spots on the run. Always. And this race wasn't any different. Although, I don't think I gave up as many spots, I think 5 women in my AG passed me. I saw them pass me and I couldn't step up the pace. I ran behind one woman and matched her step-to-step for a bit but I couldn't keep it up when we hit the first big hill.

I took one 1' break around the 10' mark and another up part of another hill around the 20' mark. Around the backside of the loop we had to run down a very steep part of the road and I yelled to the volunteers that I was glad we didn't have to run up that part! After that hill the road flattened out and I tried to pick up the pace. My HR was high but still in a manageable range so I pushed when I could. We turned left to go back in to the park and to the finish. I was pushing it and there were so many people along both sides of the road. I've never finished a race with that many people watching so that was kind of cool. (Iron Girl *may* have had more but I was too tired to notice at that race) I crossed the finish line and almost fell over the volunteer waiting to remove my chip. Oops, sorry.

Run more. I have definitely increased my running and I feel better about it but it's still not where I'd like it to be. I did hit my goal of a sub-30' 5k so I'm happy.

Walked around and waited for Sheila to finish. I looked for my daughters' teacher but never saw her again. She managed to place in the top 3 OA so I'm not sure she was still there.


Family obligations, work and scheduling. I've been training when I can but it hasn't been as consistent as I'd like. Also, since I started my 1/2 marathon training I haven't spent a lot of time on my bike or in the pool.


This was a great race. I have absolutely no complaints. The venue was great, the course is not too tough but still challenging enough and the post-race spread was great. The food was set up in a larger picnic pavillion (so it was in the shade, with fans!) and every table had tons of stuff: bananas, apples, cut and whole oranges, snack bags of pretzals and chips, packs of crackers, granola bars, cookies, muffins, bottles of water and 32oz bottles of Gatorade.

I know it might seem weird that I mention the food specifically but it makes a good impression on the athletes (or maybe just me) if there is 1. enough food and 2. a variety of choices.

My only complaint might be the shirt. It's a nice design and the fact that it's a tech tee is nice but the design is huge on the front and it's just a heat-transfer. On a black t-shirt. Probably not one I'm going to wear often. The fact that I got TWO different sack packs kind of makes up for it.

This is an awesome race and if anyone is considering it for next year they should definitely put it on their schedule.