Beach start in a lake with water temp of about 72. I had some trouble sigting on the buoys but kept somewhat of a straight line I think. I felt like I was wide most of the first 2/3 of the course and inside the line on the last 1/3. My goal was to push it on the swim just to see what I could do and my watch said 28 min upon exiting the water which was definitely a PR swim for me.

I decided to give it my all and get through this as fast as possible. Mission accomplished

For the bike I wanted to enjoy but not push and had a secret goal to maintain over 20mph which I think helped during the parts I could have just turned off. The course was not crowded at all so it was fun to sight the person in front of me and then pick them off. By the time I was halfway through I had my mind set on racing this race and not just making it a fun thing to do.

I have learned a lot about transitions through racing and was able to fix those previous mistakes and make a great T2 happen

I decided to take my watch off at the beginning of the run to not psych myself out playing mental games. It worked like a charm because I just pushed the whole time. By the time mile 5 rolled around I put it back on at 2hr24min and pushed the whole way home. I finished in 2:33:11 which is a 7-8min PR for me!!!! I was so pumped. Great race!

This was one of the best executed races I've had. Mentally I was prepared to go in as just a fun small "hometown" triathlon that I wanted to take it easy on and just have fun.