Usually I get lazy mid race, but I was swimming stroke for stroke with someone from my wave. She was the perfect rabbit for me. I did not want to let her pass me, and eventually on the final approach, I left her behind. I sighted very well today, and it was a very nice swim. I felt like my old self swimming today...so different than the swim at Worlds. :) It was windy on the beach, but it didn't really affect the water much. One weird thing was my left knee "popped" and was painful early in the swim. Don't know what that was, and it didn't bother me again till post race.

Not a darn thing. Paced and sighted this perfectly I think.

Wow...this was a fast transition for me...even faster than Steve! (only time I will ever be able to say thatI was faster than Steve at something in a race!) I fumbled a bit with the wetsuit, cap and goggles, but not much.

Not much really. Wish I knew where transition started and the swim stopped. With Rev3, the timing devices don't beep. It didn't slow me down though.

Well, I am happy to report, my happy place was happy again! No cramping like in Spain. No lady part issues. Worked into the bike like I planned. Caught a few of my teammates along the way and gave them the traditional fanny smack. :) The one goal I did not accomplish (and that may have slowed me a tad) was going pee on the bike. :( I tried several (and I mean several!) times posting, relaxing, pushing a little on my bladder, and still no go for me. By the end of the bike I really had to go, but I wasn't in pain like Spain, and was able to still ride well. There was a girl who was 38 that I kept in my sights for the first half of the ride (my second rabbit) but by mile 40 or so, it was time to push and I chose to leave her behind. Good decision, as I was only a couple minutes off of 2010's bike split when I hit transition.

Hmmm, be more consistant in the earlier miles, and succeed in peeing on the bike. Still hope I can figure that out by IMFL. :)

same exact time as 2010! Curt was in transition as a volunteer and took pictures, and asked how I was feeling. I asked if his daughter was in yet. He said I'd probably catch her, she was only a couple minutes in front of me. That made me laugh. She's 20!

Nothing. Considering I was talking to Curt, and stayed focused on the task at hand, I'm pretty happy with this time. :) I really really had to go potty, so if the porta pots were in transition, it would have been a lot slower lol!

I had a plan. I was trying to run the same time as last time I raced here in 2010, thinking that might be a stretch for my fitness. So, I programed the 910 for 8:50 run, 1:00 walk trying to get to 9:23's. I felt pretty good the first few run segments and was traveling a bit further than I expected. Sweet. Banking some turf. I knew I'd walk through aide stations some (they were not at mile markers) so I was good with that. I just focused on running strong within my hr paramaters (mid to high zone 2) and sticking to the walk breaks. I took a gu at mile 2 because I was feeling hungry instead of waiting till mile 3, and just took one every 3 miles after that. I took salt tabs twice, and alternated drinking water and gatorade at the aid stations. I passed a few teammates and gave them the tap on the fanny as I went by. :) I decided to run straight through from mile 10.5 to the finish, including the causeway. Same mantra as Spain. Not going to f'ing quit! :) I passed Curt's daughter and called for her to come along...she cheered me instead. The other cool thing was a gal and I were taking turns passing each other in the last 1.5 miles. At first I thought she may be in my ag, but I checked her #(competitor? me?) and knew she was younger. I heard her breathing really hard and encouraging herself out loud to "come on!". I couldn't encourage her verbally, but I kept waving her to follow along.I kept pushing my pace hoping to finish with a PR (the run was 13.34 on my garmin, so no PR...boooo!) She finished just behind me by about 15 or 20 seconds. I waited to congratulate her and gave her a hug. She found me a bit later and thanked me for encouraging her in the last mile. Awesome!

Hmmm, I was a slave to my watch. I think it worked well. I felt pretty strong and kept a decent pace up. My garmin (which I started post potty break) showed me running an avg pace of 9:14's and 13.34 for miles. Not the official race time, but a win as far as I'm concerned. :) I was very happy with the faster splits in the last few miles when I ran non stop. Now I just need to be faster overall. Very happy with the execution today though. :)

Basically just walked a bit and found Steve, Dave, Nell, and the rest of the gang. Nell held my stuff for me, I got an art massage (very needed) and had a muscle milk for recovery. We checked results and I was happy to see I finished 3rd in my ag (and got one of the awesome ag awards that the finisher medals nests into!) and had the best bike split in my ag too. That was a great finish to a very bumpy beginning today.


Confidence in my fitness I think was my biggest limiter today. I had an off week and a very stressed morning pre race. I know I'm not in my best shape ever, but I am still improving and racing with more experience. Must remember that!


This is just a fun race! Riding the coasters (even though they made me green around the gills again) is fun, it's a fun course to race and as always, my friends and teammates MAKE the race experience for me. I met some team members for the first time, raced with two of my favorite people in the world, Steve and Ranger, got to share racing with several first time half IM'rs: Anneleise, Paul and Bob! I saw Sue who got 1st in her ag in her 140.6 long course debut cross the finish line! To top it off I raced compliments of a friend who'd won an entry she couldn't use, and landed on the podium. A pretty great experience once again!