I swam about 100yds or so to get the wetsuit wet and fitted/adjusted good prior to the race start and to get cool, the race was about 1/2 hour late and it was starting to get hot.

I started the swim 3 or 4 people back from the water line and like fish heading upstream we all headed into the water. This is the 1st race I've done where I actually felt good and relaxed in the water. I was going elbow to elbow with the other swimmers in my wave. At one point I was squeezed between 2 other swimmers and the strangest thing happened, I didn't mind.
I know I was headed the right direction because of the crowd and I actually never looked up to even sight until I got to the 1st turn around buoy (maybe 200-300 yds). The crowd eased up some after the turn but I managed to stay right on someone’s legs to the next turn around. At this point I was feeling strong and was actually passing white caps (swimmers from earlier waves). I had a little navigational problem on the 2nd lap when the land was on my opposite side and I put some extra yards into the course but I quickly got back on track and found another set of legs to draft/sight off of.
When I got out of the water I remember thinking that last year I was literally the last person out of the water and felt like crap but this year my heart rate couldn't have more than 140 and there was tons of people still out there. Great swim overall.


More practice with navigating in open water, practice bi-lateral breathing

Long steep hill out of the water, they included this hill as part of the swim time for some reason. Started out taking my sweet time on T1 but when one of my training buddies (Andy, Team Bana's) cam into T1 just 1 minute behind me I practically ran out of the T1 without my bike so I could stay ahead of him. Anyway I took a deep breath finished up and made it out of T1 before him, barely.

No much

Despite the hills I felt good the whole ride. I seemed to be passing a lot of people, especially on the down hills; I have gravity working for me on that part of the course. I never really had anybody just blow pass me, which usually happen on the longer races.
There was a lot of carnage on the road for this race. Just 4 miles from the start of the bike I say no fewer than 4 people changing flats and one already walking back with her rear tire in one hand and her bike over her other shoulder. I can really commiserate with these folks because I was there last year with a ride that had Murphy and his laws on my shoulders the whole time (see last years RR, http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

There was at least 1 accident that I'm aware of, I'm not sure of the particulars but she seemed to be pretty bloody and was taken away in an ambulance, later another ambulance and rescue truck passed me for someone else as well.

I saw Andy heading out on his 2nd lap when I was about 2 miles from the end of the bike ride. He lost a lot of gound from his great swim until now. He looked like he was doing good, but as I'll find out later he wasn't have a great race day.

Keep working on the hill repeats. Although 16+mph seems like a slow pace it was pretty good for me. I think last year I avg 10mph

Uneventful, except once again I had a training partner (Mike, Team Bana's) come into the transition area after me and my competitive streak kicked in and I rushed out of T2 like I was actually racing.

Started off strong out of T2 and it took all of 4 minutes for two things to happen. First I hit the 1st hill, ouch, which slowed my down enough to start walking with the other people around me. Secondly Mike caught me, dang it, only taking him 4 minutes to the run to make up the 1/2+ mile lead I kept on him the whole bike ride.
Well my run didn't get any better but I kept dredging on. When the run entered the trail portion for a moment there I felt like I was entering the Grand Canyon, later on I new I was trying to climb out of that damm canyon.

About 1 mile into the trail run I saw Casey (BT'er) look nice and strong headed back towards the finish but I couldn't muster the wind to even say hey as he passed by me on that rocky hill top. I also saw Jeff (Team Bana's) heading back were he reminded my that "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever" and to keep dredging on.

Approaching the turn around I realize that I haven't seen Andy pass me yet and when I hit the turn around I set my watch so I could tell how far back he was from me but I never saw him on the run. As it turns out he fell victim to the heat of the day and wisely stopped 1 mile into the run after getting dizzy and throwing up.
As a side note: this is the one thing I promised my wife that I would do if it happened. I would stop if my body were having enough issues that I started throwing up, I guess once you reach that stage you can't recover by simply walking it off.
Anyway Andy had a rough day but a good learning experience. He's already talking about his next race.

The last 1/2 of the run was a more of a run the down and walk the hills kind of thing but I didn't care if I had to walk the whole remaining portion of the run, I knew I was going to finish.
One of my goals for this race was to not be DFL (like last year) and as I was headed back to the finishing line each person that passed going the other way told me that I was going to met that goal, today.
Somehow I managed to run the last mile and a half in a 11 min/ mile pace because I looked at my watch and realized that if I hustled I could beat the 4 hour mark.
I finished strong at 3:57 (by my watch)


As always more running, more running, more running.

None- I just sat my big butt down and watched/ cheered on the rest of the finishers.


running ability or lack there of


This years race was better than the year befores but it still seems dis-organized compared to any other race I've done in the two years. The worst problem is water or I should say lack of cold water on the course and none at the finsh line.