This was pretty poor, for me. I should have pushed to the front, so i wouldnt have to swim over people in the start sprint. I got into a good rhythm about 100 yards in, once the crowd thinned out a bit. It was still a huge wave (all women) and felt choppy almost the entire swim. I kept getting off course, for some reason and having to do a strong breaststroke kick to correct. I never found a good person to stick with or draft off. Passed a lot of people toward the end, when the sun was in my eyes, so I probably could have pushed harder in the beginning.
The course felt really choppy and i kept getting breaths of gasoline-smelling air, since the 'rescue' boats were WAY too close, in my opinion. Lots of boat waves.

Start closer to the front (inside lane). Try to keep a steady every-third-stroke-breath pace for the entire swim. Improve sighting.

Greatly improved T1!!! I didnt dawdle at all :)
Terrible job getting my shoes clipped in, for some reason. I must have looked v strange.

Nothing.

I pushed it too hard in the beginning and i paid for it later. I was going really strong up until the last 6 miles or so, which seemed to creep by. I was in pain :(
Had fun, though. Everyone was really nice and encouraging. I passed a guy, who passed me later and said, 'hey, did you do the austin tri?' He said he was just looking at the photos from the race the night before and he recognized me cause i was right next to him in a couple of the photos (and i had on the same tri suit). v cool.
My friends Joaquin and Erica basically live right on the race route, so they came out to cheer for me! I was psyched to see them, esp since there were basically no fans on the race course. They crack me up. They complained sooo much about how hot it was, so i took them out later to Cafe Brazil for some late lunch in Dallas. They think i have lost my mind entirely. with the training and the racing.

Not be such a stud in the first loop. Pace myself. Ride my bike (outside) more than once a week ;)

This was the fastest ever. Yay!

Insert IV so i dont die on the run ;)

Ok, my fault here. I trained hardly at all in the heat. and hardly at all regardless lately, since my right leg has been acting up again. so, going into this i kinda knew it was going to be new levels of suffering. i think that is why i was so nervous going into this race.
Heat advisories basically said, don't go outside today, it's too hot. so, me trying to run 6.2 miles? ugggg. bonked severely.
I shuffled to the aid stations and walked until i drank all the water (or gatorade), then back to shuffle.
Picked it up again at the end, but my body was basically refusing anything faster than a shuffle. Glad to run into some BTers on the course. I perked up a little, but i still just wanted it to be over. This was my slowest run in a looooooong time.

Practice running in the heat.

Drank tons of Gatorade and water. Hung out with Haley, Aaron, Andy, Shannon, TJ and David for a bit. Watched the awards and ran into someone I knew at Rice, who came in second in the men 20-24. cool.


the heat. poor hot weather training. being sick. not tapering. deciding to do this race the week of. i could really go on here, but it's just too sad.

Want to say, the volunteers were awesome on the race! There was even a cop on a motorcycle riding up and down the run course to make sure we were all ok. he gave a thumbs up and waited to see if we would/could respond. he was so worried about everyone! Lots of ice and cold water and gatorade. I was so thankful! Great planning.