There was a good self-seeded start, with groups of 8 jumping feet first off the dock every 15 or 20 seconds. This made the course not too crowded.

The sleeveless wet suit and one cap were perfect. This was advertised as an 80F swim, and half or more of the field went polar.

Unlike a SoCal race, much of the field was inexperienced with a lot of casual athletes. I seeded myself in the second corral out of about 8, and swam through a lot of rookie open water swimmers.

For me, there were few surprises. It was a fun, easy swim. My sighting was on, and I rounded the corners well. The only challenge was how spread apart the field was, so I couldn't go on autopilot and follow people. One guy who was almost as fast as I was obnoxiously swam breast stroke the whole way. I should turn him in to Slowtwitch ;) When the field was clear near the exit, I swam a few strokes of fly for fun.

Nada. I was a smidge slow from not swimming for months.

Speedy. 28 overall, about 6% back.

This was efficient enough. I was lucky to have an end spot, so the bike was easy to find. I rubber-banded the shoes, and although I wasn't fast and efficient, it worked.

The Neosport practically fell off.

nada

An easy cruise, only 150W. My swim and run felt better than the bike, and I hardly put any effort into it, but did best in the field on the bike. Shrug.

The course was amazing, past the Watergate to Rock Creek Park, back toward toward the Mall, and south of downtown. A surprise was looking up and being next to the Pentagon - I had no idea it was on the Potomac.

nada

89 overall. Sort of speedy.

I'd hoped for countdown signs into T2, but was caught totally by surprise, and only had one foot out when I was dismount.

Again, efficient enough. I racked, grabbed my hat and number belt and trotted off.

This is my slowest run in years, but it was more or less an easy jog. Gorgeous sights.

Since I knew I probably didn't podium, I didn't even check the timing table. I grabbed a water and a snack, packed up, and rolled to the Foggy Bottom Metro. The train ride back was painless.


My results.


The race is very well produced, and I appreciate the security at transition, even though my race got kicked out an hour and a half early.

It was challenging to have sign-in the previous day, three miles from transition, but, hey, it's a complex metropolitan area.