The water was cold enough that I really didn't warm up during the whole swim but not cold enough that I froze. A wetsuit is on the list of things to buy. We all were pretty excited waiting to start. Standing in the water and waiting for the horn to blow, I was very nervous with this being my first OWS in 8.5 years but I figured I would just stay to the side and swim a normal pace like I have been doing at the YMCA. The horn blasts and in everyone goes. I thought I had the best line to the first buoy but everyone else was to the right of me. Good enough, as I didn't get decked. I passed the first buoy and started hitting the next and some traffic. Not too bad, only a nudge here and there. Every so often people would navigate with a breast stroke so I got some whammys in the rib cage. Here I am, a total newb and I lift my head out of the water to navigate correctly. Once I passed the last buoy to head to the finish the bottlenecking started to happen with people all over the place. I swear I almost broke my toes kicking someone, I had to check to make sure my toes were okay. Another person collided with me on the upstroke of my left arm. I rocked their noggin pretty bad. They apologized before I could say sorry so we both just moved along.

Wetsuit. I will get one soon. Also, I need to tighten my race chip. It was loose and I had to keep checking it to make sure it wasn't falling off. Overall, I was very happy with this swim.

Remember, there was a near 1/4 mile barefoot run up to my bike. Everything went great except the near impossible task of putting on a long sleeve Desoto Skin Cooler top. Serious? It took forever... The rest of the transition went fine except for getting on the bike. I changed gears to make sure I could get clipped in on the hill but my left shoe kept falling off. I racked myself twice and mercy it sure hurt. I eventually clipped in and off I went!

Practice clipping in...

The bike wasn't as bad as I thought. Now my time was pretty slow but considering that I bought my first roadbike August 6th and have ridden every weekend since, I was happy with my results. When I say it wasn't as bad that is true, but it was still one wicked tough ride. I don't have anything to compare it to race wise, only to my training rides so yes, it was tough. I was told that once you hit the RMT it gets real tough but I thought that that was the easier part (except for the 6% hill at the end...). Turning into the RMT I nearly fell over as I came upon this 17 year old kid riding a mountain bike that decided to get off his platform pedals and stop. Since we were on a hill here I was again trying to clip in. He then grabbed a water at the aid station and drank it while weaving all over the trail. Props to the young kid for doing a sprint tri but pah-leese learn some race manners!

Next year my bike time WILL be better. My training riding up Mt. Lemmon here in Tucson helped out, but with some time, I'll get stronger legs. I was happy with my nutrition and hydration.

As fast as I could do it. My only mistake was not making sure the spray sunscreen was unlocked. I couldn't spray any on me and I was too much in a hurry to realize all I had to do was twist the cap.

Hot, Hot, and more heat. The run was brutal. My legs were fine until the last 2 miles. I drank gatorade and pored water over my head every station. I also thanked the rad volunteers for being there. My left hammy was hurting but not killing me and my right quad was making sure I was aware of its existence.

Dunno. My goal was a 10min per mile which for some may be ultra slow but for me, that's what I wanted.

There is something very emotional about finishing a race. Enough said.


I'm happy with my results. I wanted to finish at 3:30:00 and I came really close. Since it's a first that would be a PR for me. Next year I will kill the bike as my goal next year is a straight 3 hours...