Started in one of the last waves. Great swim! Felt comfortable, didn't drink any salt water. :-) I sighted very well. Got all the way around wharf, popped my head up to sight and saw three familiar heads up out of the water. Bobby, Dan and Amy. Stayed with them for a minute or two before putting my head back under and heading for the beach. Got off course a little heading back in, the current pulled you towards the wharf. I got to where I could stand up and stripped my wetsuit before climbing out of the water and heading up the beach for the long trot to T1, almost half a mile.

Nothing.

Most of this was trotting up the beach and down Pacific about a half mile. Took my time getting everything packed up for what I needed on the bike. I was a little worried about a friend but she came into T1 as I was ready to leave. That made me feel better.

Have a pile of exactly what needed to go into my pockets for the bike. I had to route around a little.

On the way out my hip and hamstrings felt stiff. I had experiences swollen lymph nodes for about 4 days leading up to the race. I remember looking at the Garmin around mile 8 thinking "that's it?? UGH!" But then I got into the best rhythm I could with the changes in elevation (2200' rolling hills) and the traffic on Hwy 1.

I got passed by two men in 56 miles. I played leap frog with 3 men and 2 women but ultimately ended up ahead with all 5. Around mile 20 there was two gals that I was leap frogging with. One gal would NOT let me get too far ahead. On one of my passes, I commented that we had lost the third gal. Her response to me? "Are you an age groupper?" I replied "no, racing Athena today." I never saw her again. LOL! I had a 38 on my calf and she had a 43...not the same age group...oh well...

The wind was a little easier to deal with on the way back, must have been coming in at a NorthWestern angle.

I ate a half a bag of chomps, a honey stinger waffle and a Apple Cinnamon gel. Drank about a bottle and a half of water. Lost one bottle pretty early but I was carrying three so it didn't matter.

Eat more, drink an electrolyte drink instead of water.

Fairly uneventful...took my time but not slow enough to get sunblock everywhere.

MORE SUNBLOCK!!!

Took my Gu Brew in a water bottle with me. Ate the rest of the chomps from the bike, a banana and an electrolyte pill.

I saw Scott at mile 5. Saw Amy, Dan and Bobby at mile 8. Felt pretty good until mile 9. That's when I had to start digging deeper. The painful thing was, once you made the turn back onto West Cliff Drive, you could see along the coast and how far you still had left to go....Brutal!! then you come around the corner and you can see the beach and the finish line WAY down below....One foot in front of the other!! I saw Steve and Bella around mile 12.5...Steve said I looked like poo. LOL! Then, the beach finish...it's like running in quick sand, UGH! Had to run down to the water, then across the more packed sand, under the wharf, I timed the waves perfectly, through a mass amount of people, dogs and screaming kids, then back up the soft sanded beach to the finish line. I was so happy to just get across the finish line. I was even happier that the clock said 5:57. YES! Under 6!!! I welled up...and then there was Karen and Jennifer, super support crew! :-)

I need to train more to make that run faster.

Took off the shoes and waded into the 62 degree ocean for a cold plunge. Walked my happy ass, barefoot, about a mile back to transition, packed up on stuff into the truck and Steve drove me down to go get my award, food and to say bye to everyone.


Nothing.


AWESOME RACE!! Thank you!!!