Started on the left in the middle. Looked at the first buoy and decided to just follow the pack for a while. Big mistake. About halfway to the buoy, I decided to sight a bit and was swimming fairly off course. Blerg! Began to sight on the buoys, straightened right out and decided to ignore the other swimmers (for navigation). Looking back at last year's race report I did exactly the same thing. You'd think I'd learn.

Swam next to a breast-stroker for a while, and I kept getting kicked. Once I started sighting correctly - got away from her and kept moving.

As I mentioned - the lake level is really low this year. I'm swimming back to shore and my hand touches the bottom, I pop up (and notice a about 6 people infront of me walking to shore) and start to run to shore which is at least 75 yards away!. I use the time to peel off the swim cap, goggles and top of my wetsuit. I run into transition and find my bike. Hey...there must be at least 20 bikes still on the racks. I'm not last! Woot!

Swim better. Stop trusting other swimmers to do my navigation for me.

Transition was fine. Dropped wetsuit and sat down to put socks on (really hard to put socks on wet feet...I need to find a better method for this), put on bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses on, out the door! Faster than last year by about a minute (so I'm learning something).

Figure out how to get socks on wet feet.

Started plan of drinking a couple of sips of Infinit every 15 minutes or so. This seems to work for me as I'm not thirsty during the ride and feel pretty good. For the first 5 miles, I hurt. My legs were tired, I was struggling up the hills, not able to get comfortable on the downhills and actually told myself that I could stop after the first loop, call Matt to come pick me up and call it a day. I was really concerned that if my legs were already tired at the beginning of the bike, I wouldn't be able to make it through the end of the run - much less the rest of the bike.

After 5 miles of whining, I realized that I needed to press on. I signed up for the race. I was able to finish the distance a week before. What was the worst that would happen? I would walk the run route. BFD. So, I pressed on. The upper backs of my legs were really getting grumpy (something that has happened once before, but once I got off the bike, it would go away), but I pressed on. There are three pretty good hills on this route, one right past Matt's family's camp that you hit twice and the other right past the turn off at the start of the second loop. Once I got to the top of the hill at the start of the second loop, I let out a whoop! During the entire bike ride, I was passed by two guys and one girl - otherwise, I held my own. I did get to pass a couple of people, but didn't get too excited about that.

Through the loop a second time, I started to feel much better - the backs of my legs were messed up, but I felt okay and knew what to expect. I ate a gu about 2 miles out preparing for the run. Rolling into transition, I saw that there were A.L.O.T. of bikes there. . I also saw that my time from this year was exactly the same as last.

What would you do differently?:

Train more on the bike. Get a professional bike fit on the new bike. Practice the water bottle zip-tied to the aero bars (the aero bottle makes a huge sticky mess, sloshes like crazy and I end up covered in sticky Infinit for far too long).

Stuck the bike under the rack, undid the helmet, pulled the gu out of my shoes and put into the clevage cavern, drank a swallow or two of water, bike shoes off, running shoes on (wait - my feet are really wet...my socks are really wet...hmmm), running skirt on (you've gotta look good) and headed out.

Not much.

I started the run and right away the backs of my legs were yelling at me. At least it wasn't the ankle - right? I kept going and right as I got to the first hill, the overall winner ran past me going to the finish line.

As I said - this race is filled with locals - so I got to see a lot of friendly faces on the run - which is really nice.

I felt like crap. I hurt, I had nothing left in my legs and really didn't know if I could make it. I did (however) know that Matt and Lillian (my youngest) were waiting for me at the top of the last hill and once I got to them, it was all downhill from there. I decided I would run as much as I could - but when I needed to walk, I would walk.

I did a lot of walking the first half. The backs of my legs wouldn't loosen up and my legs felt like lead. About halfway up the last hill, I was ready to tell Matt and Lillian to take me home, go get my bike...I was done for the day. Then I realized that it didn't matter *when* I finished. It just mattered *that* I finished. If I took the easy way out, what would stop me from doing that any other time in any other challenging scenario?

So, I sucked it up Buttercup and kept going. I made it to the turn around (amidst lots of cowbell and yelling), dropped off my sunglasses (which were driving me crazy) and decided I could walk the last two aid stations, but otherwise, I needed to run. Half a mile into this "new" mindset, I realized I was getting a blister on my instep of both feet - something that has not happened to me in all my months of running). I pulled off the shoes and socks, tried running without socks (that didn't work), put the socks and shoes back on, loosened the laces and then decided to just suck it up.

At the bottom of the first hill (the 2/3 mile long grind up), another runner caught up with me and started to chat. She was pleasant - but was more focused on the negative than the positive (I'm out of fuel, I need to eat - but when I offered her a Gu, she declined, I can't believe I paid $$ to do this, etc.). I decided I didn't really want to run all the way back with her - it would have been too hard for me mentally.

I walked through the next aid station, and she ran and I slowed my pace a bit to be sure I could run without her. She dropped me like a bad penny. Back across one of the main streets I had to go through four times during the race that was blocked by a policeman and a race course volunteer. I said, "Sorry to say gentlemen, but I hope this is the last time I see you!" Ran the rest of the way in.

It is a little demoralizing that as I am running the final half mile (which is right along the edge of the lake - you can see the finish line, and hear the finish line...you just aren't *at* the finish line) to run past people that are packing up their equipment and leaving. I know I'm slow (I always have been), but I would like to be a little more middle of the pack than I am.

I make it to where I am within about 50 yards of the finish line and I see my family and friends cheering me in. Woot! Across the finish line and back to the family.


Train more on the run. Better socks (I wore really thin cycling socks), check the lacing on my shoes for fit, figure out the back of the leg issue that started on the bike.

I almost immediately took off my shoes because the blisters were really painful. Got hugs from friend and family, hobbled over to the bike to change into my flip flops, told Matt he could take me crap back to the car if he wanted, and hobbled down to the lake with the girls so they could swim for a bit.

The backs of my legs were messed up until the next day. I had difficulty walking up stairs, I couldn't transition from sitting to standing or visa versa. Really painful.

The good news is while my ankle hurt at the end of the race, it hasn't bothered me since.


Lack of consistent training.


Again - and excellent low cost race. Nice, challenging course, not too crowded. Plenty of course volunteers helping with traffic, timely and well run. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a low-key introduction into triathlon.