The horn blows and we are off. I am at the front of the swimmers and quickly get passed. I stick to my plan of swimming calmly. I had thought from the directions given by the race organizers that there would be a green buoy followed by a yellow buoy at which point we would turn. This is not the case. There is at least one green buoy, but definitely at least two yellow buoys. I stop at the first one, thinking I will turn left. Nope. Dang it. Keep on swimming. I am now getting passed by pink capped swimmers in the wave behind me, which I had expected might happen. Finally I arrive at the yellow buoy (this is taking forever! surely this is much longer than 15 minutes?) and turn left, then turn left again at the next yellow buoy. It's hard to sight, but I think I'm swimming in a straight line.

At the red buoy, there are a ton of other swimmers in all kinds of other color swim caps. These swimmers (possibly supersprinters?) are breaststroking, backstroking, or just sitting still... I remind myself we're supposed to be nice to tri newbies but can't help but feel frustrated. Another yellow cap and I power through them, getting in each others way. Ok, I'm around the last yellow buoy, maneuvering around more colored caps, then on to the finish!

I am at the steps and I grab on to the railing and give my other hand to the volunteer. He has me up, my wetsuit unzipped, and me lying down to have him yank it off in about 30 seconds. Amazing. Thank you, volunteer!

Later I find out my swim is 4 minutes longer than expected. No idea why but this is disappointing.

What a relief to be on the bike at last! I feel strong as I power out of Tempe Beach Park and onto my first loop. I pass many duathletes, sprinters, and supersprinters then start getting passed by people doing the olympic distance. Crap. I don't pass another olympic athlete the whole bike but am repeatedly passed by them. No good. The course is moderately hilly and it feels good to alternate muscle groups. I down a packet of applesauce at the 10 minute mark as I start to feel hungry. I come back around to Tempe Beach Park and encounter spectators all cheering, clapping, and shouting encouraging comments. It's pretty awesome and lifts my spirits as I roll past.
On my second loop, I take in 2 Clif Margarita shot blox at once, trying to swallow them as quickly as possible (I always feel like I can't chew and breathe at the same time when I'm biking or running so I panic if I can't swallow quickly). I also power down the bottle of Skratch. The pain starts as an ache but if I pedal hard, the ache becomes a burning pain in my quad/knee. I pass by Tempe Beach Park again but there are basically no spectators. The volunteers are still great but apparently the spectators were mostly there to cheer on their sprinters and supersprinters :( I can't wait for the run portion to start. I'm so over biking. Finally, the second loop ends, and I am able to get off the (now hated) bike.

Nothing. I feel I biked as hard as I could considering.

Looking at my watch, I see my run is 7:18 minutes/mile and know I can't maintain that for 6+ miles. I slow down to 8:15, that's better, that's sustainable. Lots of water and aid stations, which is totally awesome. I grab ice at the first one and dump it down my tri top. Yep, that's a lot better. At each following station, I grab more water, drink a little, then dump it down my top. Hit the turn around, high five the volunteer, and keep going. I'm passing people now which boosts my confidence although my speed is slowing. I'm now hitting 8:48 or so per mile. Eat 2 more shot blox (swallowing quickly) to pick up my energy. Back to the starting point for loop 2, pace has slowed to 9:08, which is too slow. I have to run faster to keep my overall under 9 min/mi. I bump up the pace and grab more ice. At mile 5, I grab another shot blox and pick up the speed a little. Finally to the finishing corral, I start sprinting.

Pros:

Awesome, positive volunteers
Really well marked bike and run course
Good number of aid stations on the run course with ice, water, gels, blox
Race swag! I got two really nice Moxie jerseys (tri and cycling) as well as a plain Gildan athletic tee

Cons (mostly related to the race being marketed to sprinters and supersprinters):

There were relatively fewer athletes doing the olympic distance and so fewer spectators around to cheer on the longer distance athletes
The highly advertised "beauty bar" closed up right when I rolled into transition (they offered me a $10 coupon for a beauty service but this didn't really seem like a win). It seemed to be a service aimed at racers doing the shorter distance tris or only for faster athletes...