We were swimming against a lot of chop and waves. The waves were coming at us but I made my way through them very well.

The swim got quite clustered up when the sprint races came onto the same course. It caused the stairs and way to transition to be very crowded. (there were 700 people in the sprint)

It was also difficult to cross the coral/rock beds on the way back in. I cracked a toenail and have a bunch of small tiny cuts (non bleeder cuts) on the bottom of my feet.

I took my googles off to early too as I closed my eyes and went face down in the water to pull myself across the coral/rock beds.

I was breathing a little hard running up the beach area too.

Keep the goggles on until I am on the beach.

Got my suit off quickly and put my socks, shoes, helmet, and sun glasses on and I was off.



Pretty good transition. I was excited to get out on the bike.

I started out the bike feeling weird. It was because even though I checked my gears... I only checked that the rear cassette was in a good starting gear. I had the crank on the big ring. No big deal though I was right up to speed and started flying by people. My chain then came off on a down shift so I quickly put it on and started flying again. Passing people like they weren't moving (a lot of people were doing the sprint and they also did not like the right side of the road LOL)

I kept seeing some my buddy Jeff (a real good swimmer) and I was getting closer and closer to him (closing the 4 minute gap that he had on me after the swim).

Then at mile 22 as I was right on his heels my front tire went flat. It didn't lose all of the tire pressure so I tried just pumping it up quickly but that did not work so I had to stop and change the tire. It took about 7 minutes and I was back up and running but did not have the best air pressure in my tire. (There was a metal spike that was like a staple in my tire and it was hard to get out) I put the tube and my co2 pump in my jersey pockets and finished the bike ride.

Great bike ride except for the flat tire and my chain falling off once. That was my fault for shifting the front and rear deraillers at nearly the same time.

Pretty quick transition. I was ready to get to runnning after finishing the bike. Racked my bike quickly and had my shoes right on. I also took the flat innertube and bike bump out of my pockets.



Good transition.

Ran very well. I started out the run and did not feel any effects of the bike ride (partly due to my 7 minute tire change leg rest period). It was nice seeing a lot of the AZ Tri Club peeps and others that I know on the course. Lots of high fives and cheers! I really did not think I would catch Jeff at this point because he was quite a ways ahead of me now.

I figured I was going to run a real good run a kept smiling as I ran along. I felt that I picked the pace up on the 2nd loop and I was running faster as the race went on.

Right as we got to the hotel I passed Jeff and then we hit the beach run portion.

The sand was really soft and became the hardest part of the race. It was really hard to run on and especially since I was trying to run fast. I found that I just had to try to increase my stride length as I ran along and finished.

Very happy. I felt that I negative split the run and I came in under 7 minute per mile pace.

I crossed the line and ABQkid and Lobo (Mike and Tim) were standing there with a Corona for me. I graciously accepted it and asked how they did. Mike and Tim kicked some butt in the sprint finishing 5th and 8th overall. (I still joked with them that a Ironman should be doing the Oly as it is now our sprint distance race... LOL)

My buddy Jeff then looked at my beer and said "where did you get that?" I told him that Tim and Mike had the beer for me and we then saw the huge line to get beer. Jeff and I then went and quickly got cleaned up and grabbed a cooler of beer so that we could make sure our AZ Tri Club teammates would not have to wait in line for beer. We sat on the beach under the straw umbrellas and drank beer watching everyone finish.


Flat tire and sand. We'll blame the wind too.. LOL Oh.. and my swim speed. It was a good race just not a perfect race which is extremely hard to have! :)


Even though there were some small short comings, this race is AWESOME and I still had a good race!

The location is great and what is better than a Cinco De Mayo triathlon in Mexico. Shrimp, beer, fireworks, the beach.... just a great time! (except for the 2 hours it took to cross the border... LOL)