I went out with a little burst of speed to make sure I got clear. Once I got in front of the pack I saw another swimmer just ahead, but he was a little too fast for me to catch and draft. Overall it was an uneventful swim.

One interesting thing was that the far turn buoys had scuba divers underneath them. I'd say that's going above and beyond on swim course safety.

Loooooooong run up a hill to T1. I didn't rush it as I didn't want to redline going up the hill. Little trouble getting the wetsuit over my ankles, but after that I was off.

I felt pretty good starting out the bike. The roads were pretty fast for the first mile or two, then the course turned onto a hilly out and back section. At this point the eventual overall winner came past me. I stayed within sight for a while but he was slowly pulling away.

At the far turnaround I saw that the guy who had passed me on the bike had just caught the swimmer that came out of the water in front of me. I was a good minute or two behind them so I just kept my head down and rode a steady hard pace.

I eventually reeled in the fast swimmer right at T2.

T2 went well.

I came out of T2 directly behind the guy I had just caught on the bike. Ran with him for a bit and then made a move and went past.

I didn't expect the run to be as hilly as it was. It started out on paved roads but transitioned to packed gravel with quite a few hills. I could hear feet behind me for the first mile so I knew I had to keep the pace pretty quick.

At the turnaround I saw the 1OA and he was a couple minutes ahead; didn't look like i'd catch him but I also got a good look at 3OA and I had a good gap. Pushed hard on the last couple hills, then relaxed a bit on the final climb before the downhill to the finish.