Swim was an in water start, the outside was in shallow water and the inside was in deep water. Everyone crowded where they could stand up, so at the 30 second warning I moved to the inside and started from the deeper water. I found someone to draft until the first turn and got there in no time without using any energy. I passed the draftee and hit a nice rhythm on the back stretch, going easy but fast enough to pass most people. Sighting was good and apparently years of childhood swimming have given me a pretty even stroke! Final turn was good, although we got a bit bunched and I took a could of kicks/elbows to the body and face. Nothing really bad though. I sighted well on the last leg, but the guy to my left did not, meaning he kept swimming into me. I would get knocked back, then push ahead to pass him while he drifted, get knocked back again and have to start over. Lesson learned, I should have just chilled and cut behind him instead of trying to pass on the outside.

- Swim time includes a 1/4 mile of running up a MASSIVE hill. I knew this, so I it the lap on the Garmin as I came out of the water. My Garmin recorded my water exit at 10:53.

Go harder for the first 100 yards. My parents and wife were watching and said I was in the top 1/3rd from the water. Had I pushed harder earlier, I could have avoided some of the issues on the last leg.

I had to put on a shirt because I don't have a tri top under my wetsuit. That took and extra few seconds to get on. I'd also have left my shoes on my bike normally, but there was a nasty gravel run to the mount line, so I decided put them on in transition.

No shirt and shoes on bike. I could save MAYBE 10-20 seconds. not a lot.

I had a good run getting out of the TA and onto the bike course. We had a nice downhill to start with, so I got settled in and comfortable pretty fast. First climb started about a mile in and I took it very conservatively. There were four climbs of about a mile each and I was going to take it easy on the first couple and pace myself from there. First two went by pretty easy. I got passed a lot by people on fancy bikes, but I was also passing people from the Duathlon (which started earlier). Add a few cars and there were some hairy moments, but mostly during the climbs at around 10-12mph.

The middle five miles was a hill in, steady but shallow climb then long downhill. I was recovered almost completely by mile 10, going into the first of the second set of climbs and had passed a number of people on the way up the small hills leading to it, although mostly Duathletes.

I powered through the final two climbs, knowing there was a couple of miles of downhill recovery before we arrived at the TA. At this point I was mixed up with the womens leader and some of the leaders from the men 40+ pack who had started in the two waves behind mine, so I tried to hang with them on the ride back into TA. I failed. I did catch, pass and drop several folks who were struggling up the last climb both from my wave and from the wave after who had blown by. I felt pretty strong and was able to hang with a couple of guys who dropped me as soon as we hit the top. Stupid aero.

Get a fancy carbon tri bike. Seriously though, I need to work more on the flats. Up hills I can kill it, but I struggle on shallow hills and flats. I run out of gears a little early on the downhills too, with my max being a 48x11 so I have to find a way to make up for that.

Left shoes on feet for run across gravel, then had to lace my running shoes. It took forever.

Get fancy stretchy laces and leave bike shoes on bike.

Holy crap this one hurt. I started out slow after having a nasty stitch appear on both my previous bricks. It did appear, but it was manageable and probably my biggest limiter on this run. I'm happy with the time (5k PR), but I REALLY need to figure out what causes the stitches and how to run/breathe comfortably. The course was crowded, but I finished my second loop while there were still a ton of people on the first one so I felt pretty good. HR was very steady throughout. I would have like to have it about 5bpm higher and taken about 10 seconds per mile from my time, but that's a challenge for next time.

Not have a stitch. No seriously.

Got water, ate food and chatted with parents and wife.


The fact that until 9 months ago I was a smoker and did no physical activity.


Please support this race, it was an awesome experience from start to finish. Yes, the bike course is hard and there's a massive hill at the end of the run, but it's a ton of fun.