Public Landing, Maryland United States Maryland Coastal Bays Program 70F / 21C Sunny

Total Time = 1h 36m 6s Overall Rank = 195/395 Age Group = M35-39 Age Group Rank = 35/52

This was my first tri and it was a wonderful experience! This report is probably too long, but I want to capture and remember everything I experienced.

I was super excited and nervous the night before. I had a hard time sleeping and woke up throughout the night checking on the time. At one point I had a dream that we lost power and I missed the race because the alarm didn't go off. I woke up fumbling for my watch or cell phone or anything else that might have the time. That was at 4:00am. I drove my poor wife crazy.

I eventually got out of bed at 5:45am. I quietly got dressed and snuck out of the hotel room so that I wouldn't wake up the kids. I walked outside and quickly learned my first lesson: bring a jacket to events on the water this time of year. It was in the 40's and I had nothing but a long sleeve t-shirt to throw on.

We were staying in a hotel on the beach in Ocean City. I paused to check out the beginning of the sunrise over the ocean. The colors were beautiful and there was a sliver of the moon showing as well. I left my camera with my wife, but wished that I had it to take a picture. This was the start of a great day.

I ate a power bar and drank some gatorade in the car on the way to the race. I was hoping that this would be enough to get me through the race. I have been training mostly in the evenings and have had little experience with figuring out how much to fuel up early in the morning. It turned out to be the right amount for me.

I got to the race site at 6:50am. A lot of people were just beginning to show up at this time. I got on the end of a rack about 6 back from the bike entrance/exit point. I laid out my stuff and re-checked it 3-4 times. I next got my body marked. I was freezing at this point and was envious of those that had brought jackets, gloves and hats. The woman that was writing the numbers on me and I were joking that between her shivering and my shivering, no one would ever recognize the numbers that she was writing.

I walked back to my car and sat in it for about 15 minutes, trying to warm up. My hands were numb and I was digging for an extra pair of socks or anything else that I could put them in to warm them up. Finally got the feeling back in my hands and headed over to the start for the swim to check it out. It had already warmed up 10-15 degrees outside.

I went back to the transition area and rechecked everything again. Waited in a huge line at the porta-potties. Ran for 5 minutes and stretched. At 8:30 put on my wet suit. 8:40 listened to the race review meeting. Wife and kids showed up and I took a picture with them. At 8:50 headed to the put-in for the swim.

Second lesson: bring flip-flops or cheap shoes. Walking down the road to the swim start was rough on the feet. I noticed about half the racers were wearing some type of shoe.

The official time did not break out the transitions. I did that myself based on time kept on my watch.