The mass start wasn’t too bad. I got kicked a bit, but there was no grabbing. I tried to start on the outside, but that didn’t work. I could not go straight for the life of me. There was one point where I was actually crossing perpendicularly to the course. Needless to say, I was getting a little flustered, and didn’t focus much on my stroke. On the plus side, the water was quite pleasant after the first minute.

Not sure. I need more practice with open water swims.

This was a swim/run transition. I forgot to bring water to wash off my feet, so I ended up using Gatorade. Ate some gu and headed out.

Bring water!

This course killed me. I wasn’t ready for these hills. There was a nice headwind on the way there. So, that part was enjoyable. The way back was tough. I think that I was changing gears too often. I spend a lot of time in the lowest gear. The people passing in the cars were great; the encouragement was motivating.

Practice more hills.

I don't remember much from this transition. I was just glad to be done with the run.

It took me awhile to catch my breath and find a good running groove. After that I was fine. I wanted to look around, but the terrain was so bumpy that I ended looking down for most of the run. That made the course seem a lot longer.

Not much. It felt like a good run.

Drank a lot of water and ate an orange.


The atmosphere was unlike my other two races. At the finish people seemed more irritated than fired up, and it seemed that most headed out as soon as they were done. The race itself was pretty unorganized. But, I’m still really glad that I finished!