I was in the fourth wave of four. Open swimmers, then men under 44 (green caps), men 45 and over with clydes an relays (white caps) and then women (pink caps).

The course was a counter clockwise triangle. We went out a short way at a sever angle to the shoreline and then went a long long way parallel to the shore before swimming to the swim exit. The area around the first turn was particularly choppy and I had a little bit of difficulty breathing in that area. By the time I got to the second buoy, I had my rhythm back. By then I was swimming alone and was getting a bit discouraged. Then I passed someone in a white cap and another person in a green cap. I felt better about things then.

Includes 100+ m uphill run from the lake

This is a six minute improvement from my previous Olympic distance swims (45:27.5 and 47:41). I need to continue to work on swimming in general.

I think that I may have been sighting too frequently at the beginning. I had better rhythm and breathing with a little bit less looking up.

I was pleased with this transition. I was able to remove the wetsuit quickly and get into socks and bike shoes, helmet and gloves. I felt organized and it went so quickly I felt like I must have forgotten something!

The beginning of the bike course was really fast and I got really excited. Woo hoo! Then we got into some hillier sections. The competitors were really spread out and that was a little bit strange feeling but there were tons and tons of volunteers and that was fun. They had three volunteers along with one or two state troopers at every turn on the course.

The course was very pretty and the roads were in surprisingly good condition. As a matter of fact, the roads there were better than the ones that I typically ride on. The rolling rural countryside was very scenic.

Just before the 10 mile mark, I came across a man walking his bike. I asked him if he needed anything and he said that he had a flat. I quick glace at his wheels told me that I would not be able to help him with a tube (he had deep rims) but when I stopped he said he was using tubulars anyway. I asked him if a frame pump would help him (figuring that he had CO2 of his own) and he said yes. I gave him my frame pump and asked him to drop it for me in transition (gave him my number). Then I left. I never saw the frame pump again. :-(

I had a honey stinger waffle early in the bike and then decided to go ahead and have a gel at about the one hour mark, figuring with breakfast at 4:15 and a delayed, it wouldn't hurt any.

The wind was a factor on the bike for sure but all of the participants had to deal with it.

The run was good. There was some shade which was nice and there were plenty of aid stations. Any concerns that I had about the small gravel section were completely unfounded.

I kind of liked the double out and back on run course because you got to see a lot of different people on the course and because were were passing each other, there was a lot of "Great job!" and "Finish strong!" talk. Despite the heat, I think that this may have been my favorite part of the event.

The event headquarters were in a park community building. An air conditioned community building! They had drinks and snacks (bananas, Lance crackers, Oreos, trail mix, orange quarters, bags of chips) and sandwiches.

I had some snacks, a bottle of water and a soda while I was hanging around waiting for results. I never saw my results get printed by I got my time at the awards.

I did not pack up my gear right away because I was hoping for the frame pump to reappear. I suspect the guy sagged in and went home without really thinking about it. Oh well.


In the back of my mind, my goal was to go under 3 hours. I think that I may have made it if I hadn't stopped for the guy with the flat.

That being said, this was meant to be an event, not a race.


Well organized event with a nice course and plentiful volunteers.