I lined up in the front of my wave start right in the middle. I KNOW that I'm a fast swimmer and so I'm not intimated by getting knocked around a little bit. The gun went off and I ran into the water. I could tell that I was in the top front of the pack for about the first 100 meters, but I started getting passed by some of the other women around the first buoy. I was having trouble finding someone to draft off of, but around 500 meters, I was lucky enough to find some women about my pace. We were doing a perfect draft - I was in the back of about a 4 person line and I could totally feel the ease of using their momentum (it was also weird) that I thought about this while out there swimming).

It got a little choppy after you made the turn on the back end of the loop, but I was doing good until I turned the buoy to head back into shore. I had been out in the water the previous morning to spot the building to site off of, but for some reason, I picked out a condo way down the beach from the condo I was suppose to look at. I finally lifted my head for more than a second and found the other girls swimming and headed back over to them. After later talking to other racers, I realize that the current was pushing pretty strong to the east and so that could have misdirected me as well.

Back on course, I just started picking off swimmers in waves before me. Exiting the water went really well and I ran up the sand to the timer pad as I was stripping. Apparently, this part of me made the race video that was played at the awards ceremony so I'll have to order that and check it out. I was happy to see something in the 31's as I was running through the corral, but I was really hoping for a low 30's.

Uh - sight a little bit better. I think that I could have taken off about a minute if I hadn't gotten off course. Regardless, I had a really good swim (:47 seconds faster than last year), but the girls in my AG were just killer.

Big transition area, but I think that I handle it well. Ran right to my spot and sat down to get the lower half of my wetsuit off. Got shoes, helmet and sunglasses on and ran out of TA with my bike.

Not much. I was :07 faster this year than last year and I had not as sweet of a spot due to the entrance to TA being different. It's a long run up from the swim so I'll take anything around 2:45.

I got on my bike and felt good to start off. I was trying to average around 20 mph and I was able to do that pretty well for about the first 10 miles. My main concern was making sure that I was ready for the heat on the bike and then later on the run so I was taking in fluid constantly. Other than fluid, I think that my nutrition went pretty well. I ate gels every hour and had a peanut butter sandwich that I nibbled on at other times.

Once we turned onto the highway, I was having a little trouble keeping my 20 mph pace. I just kept going at what I could do and at times it was 18mph and at other times, it was 21+ mph. I handle the bridge decently (the KeMo repeats paid off), but once I got out on the country back road, I felt like I couldn't get my pace up to where I wanted it to be at all. The race wheels were riding smooth, but everytime there would be rough part of the road, I'd see my pace drop off. I was just hoping that it would be easier once we hit the turnaround and luckly, it was! Miles 35 to 56 were pretty uneventful. Once we got back towards the beach, I took one last gel and started preparing myself mentally for the run.

Not drink so much. I was full to the gills once I got off my bike and I had no urge or desire to urinate at all. I think that this contributed to the not stellar run coming up and the sick to the stomach feeling that I had for about 2 hours after the race was over.

I was about 10 minutes faster this year as compared to last, but I was really hoping for around a 2:40:xx or below. I'm going to keep working on the bike and see this time go down!

Ran in, racked bike, helmet off, bike shoes off, running shoes on, visor, gels and race number in hand and I was off.

FIRST PLACE IN AGE GROUP! Those girls can't touch me. :)

I ran out of the transition area and Josh was right there with the camera. It was so nice to see him because I wasn't sure if he'd know where I'd be at certain times. He took a picture and encouraged me by yelling 'Run, B*tch' (which though might sound mean, it really cheered me up and made me laugh).

I took off running and just did what my HR and legs felt like doing. I hit the one mile marker and my split read 7:14. Uh - there was NO WAY that I was just ran a 7:14 mile. I confirmed this by marking my time at the next marker as a 10:40 something. Yeah - the markers were definitely off. My plan for the run was to run every mile and get what I needed at the aid stations and walk through to make sure that I got everything down. It was fun being out there in my Sport Factory jersey because if I got passed or anyone was coming at me, they would cheer on 'Go Team Sport Factory'.

Brett caught up to me around mile 5 and he was looking really strong. He gave me some encouragement, but there was no way that I was going to hang with him today. Everything felt pretty good throughout most of the run even though it was REALLY hot out there and I could feel my lower legs starting to get a little tight. I took some 2 electrolyte tablets at mile 5 aid station and 2 more later at mile 8, but I found out after the race that I really should have started taking them on the bike about every hour. Oops.

At mile 9, I just wanted the run to be done! I was seeing my pace slip and there was nothing that I could do about it. My legs just did not want to move. I was running, but I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. I kept with my game plan and kept running each mile until I got to the next aid station. Once there, I was loading up on everything (cup of water, cup of ice, sponges, cup of gatorade, cup of coke) - I was trying everything to stay cool! It would work for about 5 minutes and then I would have 5 more minutes of misery waiting to get to the next station. Once back on Thomas Drive, I knew that I was going to beat my time at GCT by some, but I didn't know how much. I looked at my watch and realized that 5:28:xx sounded better than 5:29:xx so I pushed it a little bit in the last 10th of a mile and came in at 5:28:59.

Coach and I both agreed later on that I need some more running in my plan to bring my half-marathon time down. Last year, I did 1:58's for all 3 of my Half-Ironmans and so I would at least like to see THAT time (I think that the heat increased everyone's run times this year).

Got bottle of water and chip taken off and then walked back down the finish area to see if I could find anyone that I knew. Josh found me and we waited around for a little bit, but I was starting to get sick and so I went and grabbed my bag from transition and we headed back to the condo.


The heat - what has been a relatively mild spring here in Georgia didn't really prepare me for Saturday's weather.

Running training - I just need more of it.

Nutrition on the bike - too much fluid made me sick!


About 2 hours after the race, I got a text from a friend telling me that I got 10th place in my age group. 10th place meant that I would get an Age Group award that the awards ceremony later that night. So what turned out to be a disappointing time was made better by the fact that I got an AG award at a HUGE race. :)

I love the Gulf Coast Triathlon and will hopefully be doing it for many years to come. Everything is very well organized and the volunteers that are at GCT are probably the best at any race that I've been too. They are really encouraging and are cheering you on to the end.