This was my best open water swim. I guess the third time's the charm as far as relaxing in open water. I was very calm and relaxed. I enjoyed this swim. I took it easy and felt wonderful. It was going to be a very hot day and the water felt so good. I never got kicked or hit by anyone and my confidence grew when I caught men in the second and first waves. I know I could have swam faster, but I this was my first Oly distance so I wanted to pace myself.

Swim faster, I guess.

I'm slow in transition. I use it as a chance to catch my breath. Once I get to the mount line, though, it is time to get busy!

Learn how to transition faster.

This was a fun bike course. I sat up and waved to the cameras. I rode very steady. It just felt GOOD! I was very surprised to see how fast my bike time was because it felt so good. I wasn't trying to kill it because I knew I still had the dreaded 10K run left.

Nothing!

Once again, I'm not the fastest in transition. I also opened a gel while running out.

I ran from aide station to aide station. When I reached the aide stations, I walked, drank and poured water all over myself then started running again. I know I'm capable of a faster 10K split, but it was soooo hot and my feet were killing me. I decided at the beginning of the race that whatever my time, it would be a personal best because this was my first oly. So I took my time through the run course because I knew it wasn't worth dehydrating and getting sick.

More endurance run training. I'd really wimped out on my running training, concentrating on 5K distance so I didn't have any confidence in my ability to run an entire 10K attached to a tri. A lot of my running demons deal with my confidence.

Standing in the shower tent for 6 minutes guzzling tepid water.


Not enough time spent running.


Set-up puts on a good race. I was very impressed by the number of volunteers out on the course. We didn't want for anything and lunch was catered by Outback. Yum!!! It was a wonderful experience and I can't believe I placed in my age group on my first Oly. I forgot to hit my stopwatch after I crossed the finish line and didn't realize it until after I got out of the shower tent. When I turned it off, it said 2:37 so I figured I'd finished in 2:34. When they were calling out the awards, first in my age group had a 2:27 time and second was 2:30. So when they called out "And for third place, with a time of 2:31...." I looked at my husband and said "oh well" and then they said my name. We were both shocked. It was a very fun way to end a very tiring day.