Placed myself near the start of the pack for my wave, which really helped. I didn't swim over near as many people this tri, but I did almost swim into one guy's lap from the previous wave - he was backstroking. Actually passed some people from the previous wave, and had minimal breast stroke this year. They used really big bouys, so that was nice. (time included running from the water up to T1)

Not kick so hard in the beginning. I think I panicked a bit there. Oh, and test out the tri shorts and top before using them in a race, although they did really, really well. Run faster coming out of the water.

The other ladies on my rack were gone when I got there. Must have been in the speedy 30-35 AG. Rinsed feet off, shoved on my running shoes, snapped on my helmet and actually ran with my bike to the mount line.

Nothing, really.

It was so nice to go from hill training to flat racing - I will never, ever complain about the hills in Athens again (okay, that's a lie). Going from hills up here to the flat of south Georgia completely rocks! I have never had such good times on the bike. It was like butta, baby. I didn't get passed as much this year, and I passed more people - even some guys. A pregnant woman and I played tag until she finally passed me for good. One downer was that I thought for sure that I'd get a penalty. My chin strap came loose from one of its buckles, and there was no way I could stop and fix it without losing some serious time. I tried to keep it tied, but it wouldn't stay, and one of the times I decided just to leave it, one of the course officials comes riding by. I thought for sure I was busted. I made sure it was tied when I came into T2.

Check my helmet as well as my bike before the race. He could have given me a penalty and there would have been nothing I could have done about it. And take my gatorade out of the freezer earlier. It was a while before I could get much to drink.

I still have toe cages, so T2 went smoothly. I did forget my race number. I didn't get around to buying a race belt, so I was just going to tuck it in my tri shorts. I was so focused on getting out of transition that I left it laying there.

Get a race belt.

I was glad I took a gu on the bike, although I wasn't sure about it at first. My shoes squished from the water they took on during the bike, but other than that, no problems really. It was so cool to be able to cheer for JoyfullySo (Larissa) during the race, along with others from her group. And my friend from Cordele who got me into tris in the first place was her usual speedy self. I got to cheer for her as she was coming in, and I was starting out.

Get clipless pedals/shoes so my running shoes don't get wet during the bike. Do more speed drills. Get a tri top that absorbs less water.

Walked around, talked to Cindy, a reporter from the Dispatch who used to work for me. She was there photoging the race. Got some water, talked to more people, ate a banana and a sausage dog (yum!). Got to meet DarrellC and hang out with his lovely wife JoyfullySo/Larissa and their kids. Oh, and Darrell was smokin' this race - came in fifth in his AG with a time of 1:13:25. Wow.


Lack of speed training on the run. But, really, I knocked 11 minutes off of last year's time and I came in second in my age group and I'm really proud of that. This race was so AWESOME! Seeing improvement makes me want to work even harder next year. And the hardware was so cool - a running hat instead of the usual trophy. This year, I don't think there was any way to go much faster. And that's an awesome feeling (well, until I do want to go faster...).


Georgia Multisport did a really good job again this year. I really, really like their events. The course is good, challenging enough, especially for me, to keep it interesting.