While this is still my "worst" event I am thrilled with this swim. That close to 2:00 per 100 yard is great for me. I kept my cool and swam swam swam.

Nothing. I executed this perfectly considering my minimal swimming.

Wet suit came off great. I think the time here was mostly just due to the size of the transition area, I don't recall any major mistakes. I found my rack right away, although it was easy since I followed my rack mate out of the water...

Right out of transition I realized I dropped my chain. I wish I knew how much time I lost, since it felt like about a minute. I was right on the heels of my friend, also in my category, and didn't want to lose any time. Darn! I got back going and immediately felt great. I passed a ton of people and stayed in my big ring. I caught up with my friend and it just felt effortless. I passed another friend and kept on going. If I hadn't been trying so hard to build time in ahead of my one friend, I might have slacked off more. But I wanted to hopefully get that Athena win and I knew she could potentially run faster than me. Since we got out of the water together, the bike was my only hope to create a gap. What a wonderful incentive! The most amazing part is that even with my time lost on the chain, I still set a bike time PR on the course. Woo-hoo!

I had left my shoes untied and was worried this would take a bunch of time. I normally slip my feet into the shoes, but I didn't have any Yankz and the lace pattern wouldn't allow pulling them on. So, I tied quickly. I figured if I needed to adjust later I could. I am very pleased with this time. I racked very quickly, did the shoes, grabbed my hat/number belt and ran.

This was really hard. I worried I had overcooked the bike. I tried to dial back the pace just enough to regain my composure and it WORKED! The sun came out a bit and with the humidity I was still suffering, but then the clouds returned and the shady trail saved the day. I did walk for two brief portions but just felt guilty so started up again. The very flat path allows for dialing in pace, which helps take your head out of things. I just kept thinking about how much I'd like to be done and kept running. I saw my friend at the turnaround and she was about 3 minutes behind by my watch. I didn't think she could make up that time in 1.5 miles, but I didn't want to find out. She really motivated me to keep running.

This race was great as usual for two main reasons: great volunteers and race planning, super fun course. After the race the Athena results were screwed up exactly like last year. The frustrating part was the print out of the whole results list showed the correct information. I could see the group had 6 people, I could see the order. The special report they print for awards, though, wasn't right. The timing guy couldn't wrap his head around this (AGAIN). After the whole awards ceremony was over I noticed the other girl who we thought was Athena walk over towards the table of awards. I asked if she was the first place Athena and we determined she was and she was bummed to not get called up, it was her birthday. We just told Jerry McNeil we were the winners and he announced it. We then collected our trophies. Ross the RD was surprised (AGAIN?) that it hadn't gotten worked out but we just said it was true and I reminded him the same thing happened last year. So, he handed my friend and I (she was 3rd) leftover prizes that weren't picked up. Normally the 2nd and 3rd place don't get anything other than the trophy. By the way, the 1st place Athena beat us handily and I told her how proud I was of her and encouraged her to come out and race Athena more often.