In the corral, I met Rob (Rmaldonado) and Eddie (cobanero). I was standing there completely nervous thinking about how much time and I heard form behind "Hey - You from BT?" Rob introduced himself and Eddie was standing there. He was cracking all sorts of jokes which really helped put me at ease.

The swim was really nice. The water was calm and I did not get kicked as much as I thought I would. My goggles kept filling with water so I stopped around every second buoy to empty rthem. Claudie told me after to loosen up my goggles - I will try that at the next race. My sighting was a little poor, so i was off course a couple of times, I took the last turn really wide.

Loosen the goggles, practice sighting and get in the pool to bring that time down.

I had a better transition than my last race, but still not stellar. That is a big time partially because of the distance I ahd to travel to get out of the corral.

I need to learn a running start, with my shoes already clipped in.

I really felt great on the bike. This was the highlight for me. The first couple of miles were dragging out of the water, but after that, I settled into a nice pace. There were a lot of people on the course, so keeping away from a draft proved challenging. There wer times I would slow to avoid a penalty, and then I would settle into that speed and realize it was too slow. I should have just kept my speed.

I had the bottle cages placed on the tail the day prior to the race (so much for nothing new on race day), so getting accustomed to using those was a little different but not too detrimental. I had them angulated improperly so I had to get up on the biullhorns to reach my bottles.

As I was coming into T2, The riders were really piling up and we were kind of being coralled into a chute so keeping 15 feet was really annoying - there wasn't much room to pass and suddenly I heard a motorcycle come up behind me. I heard her call out a number and I could have sworn it was mine. I was seething. I have no chance of getting a medal here, but just the thought of being accused of cheating mad my blood boil. I do everything I can to play by the rules, and I got a penalty? Wound up it was not me, but I have to learn to accept if i am penalized becuase it played on my mind the whoe rest of the run. I got off the bike and into T2 pretty well.

Nothing new on race day. Adjust the bottle cages properly. Keep my pace and do not let other riders dictate my pace. More time in the saddle. I would have drank more water because I did not feel dehydrated on the bike but it caught up to me in the run.

I felt great on the bike, but when I got off of the bike, my legs were gel. I took a real easy T2 becuase I knew I had not much left in the tank for the run and hell I was not going to hurt my run time.

Dismount without taking shoes out of the clips.

WHOAAA. I ran a solid .5 miles before I had to walk. I came out of the T2 on fire 8:45 by the garmin and thought to myself - I am having a record day!- way too fast. I had to walk/run the rest of the way as I had improperly hydrated on the bike, and left too much on the bike. I really enjoyed the scenery, the people, the spectators, and the overall atmosphere. I saw a lot of BTers on the run and they all encouraged me.

I was dehydrated and I could tell because I was getting the chills on a really hot day. I grabbed water at every stop but I was just getting myself sick. I could not catch up with the hydration no matter how I tried.

In the last .5 mile I heard someone yell "1-2-3-4 Light on your feet" And it really struck a chord with me so I envisioned being light and jogged a 2:00 pace into the finish. I had to wait for Claudie to get in 27 minutes later. I thought I was going to pass out. I could not find the eats tent after the race - I was defintiely not right in my mind because I was cranky and could not make a decision. I drank as much water as I could without puking.

Hydrate on the bike. Train more. Come out of the gate at a realistic pace. I need sto stick around 12:00 pace for an event like this. 15:00 is a real disappointment.

Waited for Claudie for 27 minutes and laid down under a tree. I drank a lot of water, but could not find any food and it was another 40 minutes beofre I got something in the stomach. I was totally drained. I was very happy to have my finishers medal.


Training, hydration during the race, training.


This was by far the best multisport event i have been involved in my short tri career. The event was organized, on-time, and well-run. I would have never known that they had 4300+ entrants in this place at once.

I really enjoyed meeitng the BTers at Marinos and seeing everyone on the course. This group of people truly embody what triathalon is all about. I am always anxious going into a race, not because the race itself, but I feel like a sore thumb at these things because of my weight. When I am around the other BTers, that all goes away - We help each other change our lives for the better and encourage each other to continue when it seems too hard. AND we really had a great time together on Sat nite! Thanks to everyone on Sat nite and to Rob and Eddie race day!!.

My reslove to get better has been redoubled.