Seeded myself towards the front of the pack. There was a woman who said she had done this swim in 6:30 and I said "I'm drafting off you!!!!" Thre was me and the 2% girls (as in 2% body fat) up front. hey I float better!! Thing about this race is that there are lots of first timers and lots of slow swimmers. THey must have had about 20 lifeguards for this little swim. It made for A LOT of congestion. Waves were 4 minutes apart and I was in the 3rd wave.

So between the kayaks and boats hovering a bit too close to the swim course and the fact that you were catching the back of the first wave by the first bouy there was a lot going on in this swim. After the 1/2 way point I caught the middle of the pack from the 2nd wave and the BOP from the 1st wave. I drafted really well tho and this is my fastest time in open water for this distance.

Not much I'm happy with it. Can always learn to be more aggressive in open water!!!

short run into transition. threw swim stuff done took apuff of my inhaler, put helmet and glasses on ...which immediately fogged up.....and ran out sunglasses dangling from my mouth. Unfortunately there was a longish run thru SAND to the mount line.

ummm...run faster?

Ok here was where I could manage something...immediately started picking people off. GOAL to not get passed anyone!!! OK so MOST of the field was on a mountain bike or hybird and I even saw 3 beach cruisers (one with a basket) but hey you gotta take lifes triumphs when you can get them!! Unfortunately they again had this stupid no passing zone where you can only go as fast as the mountain bike in front of you. I basically went as fast as I could and told myself I could catch my breath in the no pass zone.

I saw one of the 2% girls on a nice cannondale with race wheels..ggrrr I HAD to get her....she was about 1/4 mile in front of me when I first saw her (there are a couple out and backs) after the first no pass zone I catch her and drop her....make the last turn around....she can't catch me. She slips in front of me as we go thru the last no pass zone..nothing doing!!! SHe says "GO girl on a Roo its all you!!!" I pass her right back and drop her. GOAL MET NO ONE PASSED me and I beat 3 of the 5 elites on the bike leg :)

I was really aggressive. I had trouble with my gatorade and didn't drink hardly anything. It tasted like rubber....maybe the new scruchie thing I put in it or my inhaler

ran in and racked easily as there were no other bikes on my rack :) sat down and put on socks and shoes....noticed how DIRTY my feet were from running thru the sand to and from the bike....another puff on my inhaler which I took with me and grabbed my hat and race belt and took off. 2% girl passed me going out on the run (SHOCKER) and she was like "you had an awesome bike"

not much. I need the socks. Glad I took the inhaler

Ok so this is my achilles heel but this is my BEST RUN in a tri and the FIRST TIME I managed sub 11 minute miles. So of course 2% girl runs past and acts like I can keep up with her..HA!! I felt strong coming out of transition then you have to go up this hill....which is the only part I walked of the whole run thank you very much. My watch said 38 minutes coming out of T2 so I was confident I could go sub 1 hour.

I was a bit wheezy almost right away so I took another hit on my inhaler and started running at the top of the hill. Grabbed some water and kept on going. It became a pass Sue fest as always but I kept telling myself I had to run my own race and do my best. I knew that I wanted to try to pick it uponce I hit Cinderellas Castle because it was probab;y about a 1/2 mile to the finish from there. They had a 1 mile marker and I was at 11:15 for the first mile :( Average but not great. Guessed I picked it up because that means I negative split the last mile because if the distance is correct then I ran 9:50 the second mile.

Came the thru castle and picked it up...kept checking and knew I would meet the sub 1 hour goal. I knew I would have to go like 53 minutes to place and that was not a possiblity. Kept pushing all the way to the end

I just need more running I think. Went well for me even tho as usual my run is disproportiately bad compard to my swim and bike

Got some water. was eyeing the transition area for my girls. I snuck under the barrier to find them....saw Sam come in and I thought that Cathleen hadn't come in off the bike yet but I must have missed her because I eventually checked her bike rack and found her bike there. I found a spot along the finish shoot and waited for my girls to come in!!!


I'm just not a runner


After the race I saw the 2% girl...I'm pretty sure she won our age group and she thanked me for being such a good rabbit because she never would have had as good a bike ride as she did without me to chase.

This is an excellent first timers race. I did it only because the girls wanted me too but I am happy with my result. Things ran late because we had to wait for the sun to come up before we could start the swim. I'm so proud of my girls!!! They both finished strong and have the tri bug!!!