I had a terrible time getting started. I must have started out too fast. within the first couple hundred meters, I started having difficulty breathing. It was so bad, I considered getting in a boat and riding back to shore. I find it very disconcerting to be in deep dark water while having difficulty breathing. I have had this happen a couple of times. Once I have trouble breathing, it takes a long time to get it worked out. I treaded water a while and contemplated my situation. I decided to get to next bouy whether on my back or grabbing someone's foot and letting them pull me or however I could make it. This is where I first notice that there was apprently a very steep incline at the beginning of the course. I floated on my back as I eased my way toward the next bouy as I looked for a foot to grab. I got to the next bouy, rest and contemplated my next move. I decided to head on. I still could not breathe properly. I continued this until I was halfway through the course. My breathing got progressively better as the hill flattened out. The second half was all downhill and I took off like a torpedo, but alas it was too late to make a reasonable time. I went to stand up at the end and my calves cramp very painfully.

All-in-all. I met my swimming goal. I did not drown... so that is a good thing to most people who know me.

I need to figure out this breathing thing. I am thinking that I should warm up really hard until I have trouble breathing. I think this would make me start at a better pace/place. I am going to work on breathing in the pool too.

I seem to be pretty slow in the transistions. Who cares at this point. I feel like I am going fast, but Britni said that I looked very leisurely during my transitions. That is my zen Buhda thing showing.

Don't know. If I ever get serious about this, I should ponder my transisitons.

I felt that I did ok on the bike. I averaged 18.4 at St. Anthony's and 18 here. I thought I would have been faster because there was a whole lot more downhill here than at St. Anthony's. ;)

My legs cramped several different times on the bike. This has never happended to me before. The only times that I have cramped in the past were just after the bike during the start of the run.

Probably nothing, maybe start out faster.

I was faster in transition than St. Anthony's. What can I say?

I do not know. I have more important things to worry about.

I suppose it is time for me to start working on running. This may come as a big surprise considering my blazing speed on the run, but I did not pass one single solitary person...not one. The bright side is that I got to admire the backside of several very attractive women as they passed me. ;)

I did however finish 5 1/2 minutes faster than I did at St. Anthony's (If I have this figured out correctly, I will have my run time down to zero in twelve races). This is a surprise to me also because it was such a nice and sunny day at St. Anthony's and we had to run under the trees at Peachtree. I also was able to run right into the port-a-potty and did not have to wait for the two women to do their makup. The bathroom break gave my legs time to stop cramping. I did not have anymore trouble with my calves after the port-a-potty stop.

Nothing really considering that I have not been running. This is only the third time that I have run six miles at one time in many years. The second was St. Anthony's.

I do think that I will start working on my running a little if my back allows.

Training... Garbage in Garbage out. My real goal all along has been to slowly get back into shape. I am doing that. I am in no hurry. I basically want to have fun and I am doing that. I want to get a little better each month until I can not get any better. At that point, I want to slow my rate of decline as much as possilbe.


I really enjoyed the race. The BBQ afterward was great. It was as good as the BBQ that I went to that night which was a pre-wedding party. UMMM UMMM BBQ twice in one day. ;)

I finished 2 minutes and four seconds slower than St. Anthony's. Considering how desperately I struggled on the first half of the swim, I was satisfied with that. I am improving... that is what I am looking for.

Oh yeah, and I liked the T-shirt.