The water was sooooo cold it made you gasp. Most people had wet suits, but I obviously did not. Did breaststroke most of the way. Started at the absolute back and outside of pack out of fear and based on other first-timers advice, and ended up middle of the pack, feeling very good. Went much better than I thought.

I need to learn to control my breathing and nerves to do crawl. When I did it, I pulled forward, so my stroke must be decently strong. I just have to gain a little confidence...

No experience but I didn't land on my booty or anything. I took a super long time, but who cares?

Next time I'll be more interested in my time so I'll run up the beach and run with my bike.

Slower than I expected, but I hadn't been doing much bike work, so I just got through it and tried to enjoy the scenery. I was back of pack, so it was pretty lonely. I at a GU and it was disgusting, as usual, but seemed okay in my stomach and I timed it well for the run to follow.

I'll be better conditioned by the next one, so I'll be going out stronger. Really work on muscle over the winter. This could be my best leg when I'm stronger! Hopefully, I'll also have a road bike and a bike shirt, so that I don't have a baggie duct-taped to my mountain bike, holding food and dangling in the breeze!

Well, I'd run. And I wouldn't waste time trying to get into the bathroom.

I walked about half this, as I expected. It was enjoyable. It was kind of embarrassing to be going out when the bulk of people were done or coming in, and that made it a little hard to keep my spirits up. But I just reminded myself I was only trying to complete it.

Well, again, I'll be better conditioned next time around, so I'll run the whole way. I think I'll rely upon the race organizers and not carry a water bottle.

I just ate a banana and stretched. Then we drove home. I wasn't able to eat normally until next morning...just tried to shove in sports drinks and food as much as I could.


Conditioning. It's only been six months since I started exercising and quit smoking. Over the winter I'm going to focus on weight reduction, running and swimming form, and lifting weights. Then, gotta' ride that bike. Aside from that, it's hard to identify limiters because I wasn't really "racing", I was just trying to be calm, methodical, and finish the darn thing.


Not that I have anything to base the race rank on... but everyone was super supportive — since I was totally back of pack—and that was really encouraging. It is not supposed to be so cold in August, but heck, what's a guy to do? It was mentally challenging to keep my spirits up because I was alone for most of it. But I feel awesome and am super proud of my progress so far.