The swim was longer than advertised. Lake was cam, since we were the last wave to go out there were a few people that I needed to navigate through, but overall, A MILLION times better than last year

Nothing

Quicker than I expected, but I needed to make up a little time from the swim

learn to jump on bike with the shoes on it already

Pretty hilly course. I had a goal in mind of 55 minutes, last year my avg was 18.5 mph, so in order to hit my goal of 21.75mph in order to make goal, I was going to have to drop the hammer, and hope that I still had legs for the run.

There were a lot of people to pass a long the way since my wave was last. The first two miles of this course are on the run course and it is really hilly, there is not much of a flat section to speak of. Once I got on my bike, I knew I had to start picking people off quickly, and that is exactly what I did.

It is really hard to find a nice rythym in the first 12-13 miles of this course since you are either going up, or down, a hill. I was able to power up most of the hills and only had to stand for one. For the first time, I was actually passing people going up hills, it is really cool!!

At about mile 10 we went through a small town where there was road construction, appearently I was too busy trying to be safe and yelling, yes litterly yelling, at the driver of a truck that was pulling out in front of me, to realize that the course took a sharp right turn. Yep, Missed that one. I looked up, and there was no one in sight, I thought Sh#t, I missed the turn. It probably cost me 30 seconds or so, but I guess live and learn, right?

The rest of the course I continued to focus on picking people off, and keeping the gearing high. Whenever I felt that I was comfortable, I would shift up a gear, and force my legs to feel pain. I kind of enjoyed it! :)

As we were coming to about the 18 mile mark I looked at my watch and realized that I should be able to make my goal time!! I was so happy, becasue I honestly did not know if it was realistic to begin with or not.

With 1/4 mile left to go, I started to get out of my shoes, and with a couple hundred yards, I just coasted in and threw my leg over the top tube, slowed the bike, jumped off, and sprinted to the rack.

The ride was a PR for me in terms of pace. My previous was 21.11, and this was 22.15...I guess all of the biking is starting to pay off

Nothing!

Had a little trouble gettig the shoes on, my insoles bunched up on me, other than that, it was nice and quick

superglue the soles down?????

I got off the bike and my legs H_U_R_T!!! I knew they would, but holly cow, did they ever. I concentrated on keeping the turn over high and working into the run. The first mile split was 9:17, and I thought to myself, so much for your goal time of 1:42.

I kept on pushing and was able to stretch out the legs a little closer to the 1.5 mile mark. the second mile came in at 6:39, and at that point I knew the 1st mile mark was off. My goal at that point was to negative split the run. I grabbed 2 cups of water to pour over my head, and one to drink. I saw a guy who was in my age group and my focus turned to running him down.

With about 1.5 miles left to go, I caught him, only to realize that it was the wrong guy (same jersey/hair color though). Slightly after that one of my age groupers passed me. I tried to stick with him, but it wasn't happening. By the time I got to mile 3 I was so exhausted, but I knew I was running well. I grabbed 3 more cups and dumped them on my head, and grabbed one to drink.

In the last mile I saw 3 people that were in my age group, and give it my all to real them in. I may have made some ground, but to no avail. I ran the last 2 miles in 14:02, which is 40 sec. fast than the first 2 miles.


I hit the finish line, looked at my watch, and 1:42:21 was what it said. I had pushed myself extremely hard, and made my goal...now time to set the bar higher

The run was a PR for pace for me, the previous was 7:30/mile, and this was 7:11/mile!!

not doubt myself when it comes to pace at the beginning

walked around, grabbed some food


I will be back next year!!