Nice lake, perfect temp. The start into the sun was a bit difficult but not too bad. You can't see a thing in the water, but this is a smaller race with small wave starts so I didn't have many bumps or collisions with other swimmers.

I haven't invested in a tri suit yet, and was one of only 2 women who was wearing a swimsuit lol That really slowed me down, trying to pull on bike shorts and jersey over my wet bathing suit. But this was my first Olympic so I wasn't going for speed. I also have to spray on sunscreen or I will fry in the first 5 mins. of the bike and hate life for the next week. I pretty much camp out in transition; at some point I will fix that.

Buy a tri suit.

I know I am slow, but I had the best bike! I was really happy here. My only challenge was water. I checked my bike in the day before since it was a point-to-point with two transition areas and my bottle of water was warm the next morning even though it had been frozen. There are no water bottle handoffs at this event. SetUp had water bottles at T1 but they were also warm, no ice. SC is very hot and the entire course is in the sun, and even after drinking a full bottle of water and bottle of gatorade on the bike I was still thirsty headed into T2, where SetUp had no water. Even if I had left water at T2 it would have been warm. So I spent a good bit of time at the first aid station on the run gulping cold water. Not a big thing and it didn't slow me down but some kind of cold water option would have been nice, either at T1 or at a handoff, especially since they really push you to set up T1 the day before and T1 is in the sun.

I guess bring a cold bottle to T1 before the swim start and hope it stays cold. This was my best bike so far at a tri though so I was very happy.

I only camp out in T1; T2 was smooth and fast for me. I even had a chance to kiss my husband and son goodbye before I ran out.

Get some of those fancy shoelaces you don't have to tie :-) That's the only thing that really slowed me down, sitting down to put on and tie my running shoes.

My goal was one hour but it was so hot that I stopped for awhile at 5 of the 6 water stations to pour one cup over my head, one down my jersey and drink 1-2 cups. I felt pretty good for the run overall and would have hit my goal if not for the heat, but since this was my first Oly I wasn't too concerned with time as much as staying on pace, and I felt much better being cool. I had enough gas in the tank to pass several runners, including the only 3 in front of me the last mile.

Next time I will try to get the best time possible and either carry my own water or not stop so often, or for so long!

My one complaint is that there was no water at the finish for us slow people. We may not be the best at triathlon, but we deserve water too, especially at 11 am on a sunny SC day. It's also dangerous not to have water at the finish IMHO. I went with the only option, a Coke, which I really didn't want. I drank my Coke, walked around and found my family, then sat down under a tree in the shade. It was so hot that no one really stuck around.


For me, I performed great and was very happy. Lessons learned though - get a tri suit and speed up T1, cold water on the bike is really important, and don't rely on the aid stations for all of my water on the run.


Nice lake swim, fast and fairly flat bike, and flat, shaded paved trail to run on. I will do this race again. Only a few negatives, in addition to not providing the last 25 finishers with any water, which is really inexcusable. It's water, not wine. Another reason to keep training and get faster!

This year the race ended in Uptown Greenwood, which is a really pretty downtown area. But nothing is open on a Sunday in SC. My husband and son came to watch my first Oly since it was 2+ hours away and I was going to stay in a hotel. There was absolutely nothing for them to do while I raced except spend time at a little city park. Not a single coffee, donut or other food place was open on or around Main Street, mush less anything else, even by the time we left at noon. They were hot and bored but good sports about it.

I would have rather finished at the lake like originally advertised so I could jump in and cool off. When I registered the race was supposed to finish at the lake, which is why I chose it, so that my family could come and have something to do, like swim, fish, grill out, etc. Then they changed it to finishing in Greenwood, which is like a ghost town. I liked finishing on Main Street, but be warned and leave family members at home!