The swim started out a little rough, I kept swallowing water and couldn't get comfortable in my stroke. I didn't swim this whole week and I could tell. After about the 1st 100 yards I started to find a rhythm and I also found a good pair of feet to follow. I lost the feet at the first buoy and was mostly on my own after that, I couldn't really find anybody to latch onto. The swim felt strong once I got into my pace.

Get in the pool at least ONCE the week of the tri!

Ran up the grass waved to Jeff and Madkat, got to transition, took the cap and googles off, washed off my feet briefly with a bottle of water. Got the socks on, bike shoes, gloves, sunglasses, helmet.

Looked at my watch - bad, bad, bad news, my watch was full of water. I broke my da** watch! Ugghhh!!!! Took off the watch, useless, and ran/walked my bike to the bike mount.

Not take my stupid watch into the stupid water. I have no splits from this race, and I am SOOO not happy, cause I have no idea how I did in each event!

Got out of the park. There are 4 speedbumps (spaced out over the 1st mile) that people were bunching up on. Slowing, stopping, etc. I passed one group on the right, because they were going over the center line to avoid the speed bump (stupid) I picked a good line and this part was good. I passed a couple of people here that I never saw again (at least on the bike.)

The course is hardly ever just flat, it's mostly rollers, so either going uphill or downhill. I tried to find a good pace to settle into and push hard but not kill myself. I felt really strong on the bike. Now, there were quite a few people who passed me, but I actually passed a few people too and there were quite a few people behind me as I could see when I was coming back.

I kept playing leapfrog with this one mtn bike though, SO frustrating. We passed each other 2 or 3 times each. I'd pass her and then a while later I'd be spinning up a hill and she'd pass me back. I'd think "She's gone", and then I'd end up passing her again on a flat or downhill. She finally passed me on the final climb into the park and I never saw her again. I passed one bike on the climb (not a bad climb) back into the park, that felt good. I drank one full bottle of E-Fuel which was just right.

I think I may have gone faster than my estimate of this leg but no way to know.

Not get my stupid watch wet so I would KNOW how fast/slow I went overall!

Got off the bike at the dismount line and ran/walked back to the rack. Good thing I had a psychedelic towel, cause I needed it to help me spot my rack. Racked the bike, had a hard time, cause my seat was higher than the rack, so I kinda had to lean my bike sideways.

Took off bike gear, put on shoes, ate a gel, took a couple of swallows of water, grabbed my hat and ran (i.e. jogged 10 steps and then walked) out of transition.

I think next time I'll go sockless on the bike and put the socks on for the run only. My socks were totally wet, which made getting on my shoes a little difficult. I probably should have just taken them off but I didn't want to take the time. (I'm estimating both transitions at about 3:30, but I really don't know.)

Out and back on a rolling fire road with some pretty steep uphill/downhill sections. My legs did NOT want to get moving at first. You are supposed to jog across the grass to the start of the fire road and I just couldn't do it, I felt off balance. Jogged a little bit, then walked through this deep gravel area, and then tried to jog some more.

Breathing and HR felt fine, legs felt dead. My right quad felt like it had an incipient cramp. I was feeling very sorry for myself and whiny until the guy with a prosthetic leg ran past me going the other way. Then, I just thought, suck it up and stop complaining. Do your best with what you got.

So, I ended up jogging as fast as I could maintain on any level or downhill section. I walked up all of the uphills as I knew they would kill me off faster than anything else. The turnaround (and aid station) came faster than I thought it would, had two cups of water and a cup of Cytomax as I walked through the aid station, hit the turnaround and started back (which was twice as long as the way out.)

A lot of people passed me on the run, I didn't pass anyone. But, anytime a 35-39 AGer passed me, I thought, I held you off till the run! There were quite a few people in my AG who passed me on the run, so I felt really good about that and like I must have done well on the bike.

I saw a little old woman (I guessed her about 60) as I was heading back. She was doing what I was doing, walking up the hills, and I said good job to her. Almost at the end, I hear someone coming up behind me, and it's her. She says that they make the hills steeper every year, and I agree with her (it is a fact though) as she passes me. I check her age as she passes, she's 73. Man - I've just been beaten by a 73 year old. Then I think, I want to be her when I'M 73. I tried to go a little faster after that, cause if she could do it so could I.

Well, I'm just really slow on the run due to the fact that I need to lose pounds and pounds (how fast would you run carrying a couple sacks of flour around?) I really wouldn't do anything differently, I might've been able to push a little more, but I think I really gave it my best shot. I'm basing my time here on Jeff's and Madkat's comments that I was faster than they expected on the run, and that I held off the other two people of our group. (They had expected them to catch me - but I maintained my lead.)

Found everybody, got my son from the car - I feel bad that he missed the whole race - and he was awake and had looked for Jeff but couldn't find him, but I was a little scattered at the beginning of the morning so, oh well. He was ok, as he had the chips and dip to himself in the car.

Got the picnic stuff organized, hung out with Ellismichael, Madkat, Joebowler, and other people (not sure if any others on BT) and generally had a great time!


Weight. However, I feel really good about my time. I really did better than I was expecting to based on my training times.

I was either fast on the bike or the run or both. I kinda split it up, but man I wish I knew the exact data.


Fun, smaller race in a nice venue (can get really hot though) and very well organized. I've done events with TBF before and they are always very good.