Thankfully, they decided to start the swim by gender and age, which meant I would be starting close to the front. Even though I am a dreadfully slow swimmer, it allows me to get out of the pool and on to the bike course before it gets too congested. The later you start the swim in this event, the more messy it is. For some reason, maybe due to the chaos of the swim, I get really winded in this pool. I just kept plodding along until I finished both times through. I gave Jenna and Dad a wave and headed into transition where the real race starts.

I had a lot of trouble getting my gloves on, so I wasted some time here.

Being among the first out of the pool, I knew I would have a pretty clean bike course to work with, at least on the first loop. Since it is pretty short, I knew I could maintain a pretty hard effort throughout without running out of steam. While I was riding hard, I was very careful around the turns, since I had only taken the Valdora out once prior to the event, and only for a few miles. It will take some time before the handling is second nature and I am more comfortable with the cornering.

I checked my split on each lap, and was seeing around 14 minutes, which would put me in the ballpark of where I was last year, when I was carrying less weight. It seems like the bump in training has reasonably compensated for the increase in weight.

I went through all three loops without incident, and finished within seconds of the previous years’ time, which was good enough for 4th best in the entire field. I was looking forward to comparing when the results were released, but had to refocus on having a good run and finishing the race.

I was very pleased when I saw the results later in the day. I had turned in the 3rd best bike split in the field (out of 129) and the best in my age group (out of 15).

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the run, since I had pushed the bike pretty hard. I tried to focus on running by feel rather than looking at the Garmin. I just tried to keep a quick cadence and effort and figured the pace would take care of itself.

I only saw about 5-10 people coming the other way on the way out, so that gave me a pretty good feeling about my overall standing. Even though I had started toward the front, it looked like I was at least holding my ground. At the turnaround, I checked my time and was encouraged. It was only about 12 minutes and change, and I only had 1.5 miles to go. I tried to put the discomfort out of my mind, maintain the pace, and finish it like I had started.

I came back through the short hills (it definitely feel like the way back is more uphill), and crossed the finish. I found Jenna and Dad, and was anxious to see the results. When they were posted, I was showing as second in my age group, but there were still plenty of people on the course. As they kept updating, the size of my group kept growing, but everyone was being added below my name. When all was said and done, I remained 2nd out of the 15 people in my group, so we were going to stay for the awards.

We found a spot in the shade and waited for the awards to be presented. I received a pint glass with the race logo, but more than any material thing, I was thrilled with the way that the morning had unfolded. While it is a low-key, small, local event, I wanted to perform well in front of Dad and Jenna, as well as have a good first event with the Valdora. The weather was beautiful, and we all got in and out safe and sound. It was everything that I wanted out of the day.


The event, as always, is well organized and fun. It’s a nice course in a convenient location.