Start was not good. Got stuck behind a couple of people, wasn't sure what to do. Then shortly thereafter I started choking on the water and came to a slow/stop. Finally after that I started getting into a rhythm. I had to remind myself to PULL. Then I found myself swimming alongside someone with not too much left to go, and I wish I would have stayed with her! Towards the end of the swim, I felt like I was swimming by myself as I had somehow veered away from the others, which felt slightly weird.
Honestly, overall I feel like I could have done better... can't say I'm unhappy with the swim, but not completely happy either... I didn't finish feeling tired at all (relative terms of course).

Not have mental lapse.
Strong pull with every stroke.

I could not get the wetsuit off either of my feet. I think this cost me a good 10 seconds.
14/32 AG

I started off the ride with a defeatist attitude, as I was prepared to be passed... a lot. But after a couple minutes I tried to change this. (The attitude part, not the passing part. :D)
It was a little hilly. There were a couple of notable (what felt like) long uphills (which we also came down later). I tried to push the downhills, thinking I needed to gain speed somehow/where!
I started to feel a part of my glute during the ride, which got me slightly worried about the hip issue, but I told myself I've felt it like this before and nothing catastrophic has come of it... and I was hoping that would be the case on this day too!
Anyway, the ride was overall pretty uneventful.

Not have mental lapse. I really just need to push hard, but... I generally had little expectations for the bike leg (perhaps that was part of the problem!), so this was fine... There were many parts I feel like I was just riding along, but I'll just say I was saving energy for the run! :-p

Can't really think of much I'd do differently. The bike rack was higher than I'm used to, so for a short person it meant a little extra oomph in lifting the bike to rack it. :D
9/32 AG

So the run started with a massive hill. I decided to trudge up it and would "start" the run once I got to the top. From there, it took me a couple minutes to get the legs going. When I looked at my watch at mile marker 1, I had 8:30-8:40 and I was like wow!! I know I was trudging, but still that seemed slow. Then at some point I started encountering side stitches (right side)! At first I tried exhaling at the same time as my right foot came down, not sure if that did anything... then I tried to stretch out my abs, suck in my abs, maybe that helped?! I tried as best I could to keep going steadily. Then finally I just put my fingers on the stitch and kept going... then I got sick of holding it so I let go. It never completely went away, but I was able to continually pick it up towards the end. Nearing the finish line when I saw there was no one coming up from behind me, I coasted to the finish.
I was happy to have a sub-22 run! The downhills surely helped with that, but I'll take it, especially given that incline at the beginning!

Maybe try to pick it up sooner in the last mile.

Drank water, ate post-race food (Mexican).
10 minute "massage" on the legs with the NormaTec compression boots.
Jogged around and stretched a little.
Biked back the 2.5 miles to where I was staying.


My mind.


With 1,000+ participants, this was the largest race I've done to date. It was a pretty neat experience, and it was a great venue on the lake and in the park, also great weather! I had never seen so many tri bikes at once, that was a sight. Organizationally, no issues for me.
Also. I went to the awards ceremony at the host hotel, and it turns out there was an EIGHTY-EIGHT (88) year-old man who completed the race!! Wow. Everyone gave him a standing ovation. It was quite touching. Also as I was driving away from the hotel there was a man who I believe was in his 70s who was standing on the side of the road looking for a ride. I thought it was so funny that this old man was trying to hitch a ride! I deemed him safe as he had an AG award around his neck and race numbers on his arm so I dropped him off downtown. :D