One of the buoys at the end of the course floated away. Kayakers were trying ot keep swimmers on course. Bit of a debacle. Long run in from the water's edge to T1.

Controlled, conservative swim. Not my best, but left myself plenty juice for later.

Haven't been paying much attention to transitions this summer. Used to do these much faster.

First flat in eight years of racing. Happened about five miles out. Nothing spectacular, but lost all pressure in the rear wheel within about ten seconds. Found myself a spot to pull over and went to work. Got the wheel off and the tube replaced and inflated within 7-8 minutes, but then struggled to get the wheel back on. Tried to ride away after 13 minutes of work, only to find that the wheel was still out of whack. Loosened the skewer and re-aligned the wheel once more and finally pedaled smoothly back onto the course. Lost 14 minutes altogether.

Obviously, nobody wants a flat. Would like to handle things more quickly next time, but at the same time, does it really matter? Once you're riding on your rim, you know you're going to be slower than you wanted; it's just a question of how much slower.

On the plus side, I kept a calm, deliberate demeanor throughout the whole episode, even when I recognized I was goofing up the job. Also, the time loss dropped me back in the overall standings, and when I got back onto the course I was mixed in with slower athletes, and I got to pass a lot of people on the bike, which is pretty much the opposite of my normal experience. This had a positive psychological effect on me. Dropping back in the standings and watching my clock-based aspirations go out the window allowed me to focus less on stats and data and more on the beauty of the surroundings and the great enjoyment I derive from simply being healthy and outdoors early on a Sunday morning. It became much less ABOUT THE RACE at that point and more about having a QUALITY EXPERIENCE. I've covered the same course more quickly--even if you knock of the time spent fixing my mechanical issue--but like the swim, a conservative effort left me with plenty of energy for what remained.

Since racing here for the first time in 2008, I've never believed that this course was a full 10K. Still don't. Logged my best 10K triathlon split here back in 2008 and somehow managed to go even faster this time around by almost two minutes. These reservations aside, I can say for certain that I've never run this course faster. Had dead legs for the first mile, but kept churning until things began to loosen up. Found a good tempo and a sustainable pace somewhere near the end of the first loop and just focused on keeping a smooth cadence from that point forward. Didn't have tons of "zing" left for a sprint finish, but I did feel like there were a few more miles in my legs if necessary. It's only my second time under 50 minutes in an Olympic distance tri (if that's really what we ran).

The biggest factors, I think, were not pushing myself too hard earlier (an unanticipated break on the side of the road and a leisurely bike pace certainly helped in this) and a downright cheerful attitude, which kept me going on what might otherwise have stood out as a rainy, windy, tire-flattened failed race day.

Not a great outing if you go by the clock or by AG placing, but fourteen minutes got burned while dealing with a mechanical on the bike. Subtract that, and it's a pretty decent effort, which culminated in one of my best triathlon runs ever. I've been fighting this summer to get back into some semblance of shape after three years of next-to-nothing UN-fitness spent working and raising my two toddlers. This race convinced me that MAYBE my best years as a triathlete aren't behind me after all. And maybe next year is the year I get back into HIM shape.