Argh...someday I will get over my fear of the swim. I was fine when we were waiting and at the start - had to run a bit to get into water deep enough to swim in. Couldn't breathe so I did sidestroke & backstroke at first. Attempted to free style but kept freaking out under water. So I ended up backstroking most of the way. The next wave caught up to me before the 2nd large buoy and I got kicked and hit alot. I saw a guy coming towards me and he did not sight/look up at all - he went right over me and I thought I was going to drown. But I didn't. I tried to stay calm. Even though my time was 3 minutes slower this year, I wasn't the last one in my age group out of the water!

Find a BTer willing to help me overcome my fear of the OWS!

My transition was great, other than I couldn't get my wet feet into my bike shoes. I decided to go sockless this year. Once I passed the transition zone I clipped my right foot in and attempted to clip my left in while on the bike, but my foot got stuck between the pedal and my bike frame. I fell over to the left and couldn't get my foot out. I finally got my right foot unclipped and someone came over to help me get my left foot unstuck. It hurt alot and bled the entire bike & run. I've got quite the bruise on the top of my foot and knee.

Not get my foot stuck.

My legs were fairly tired the whole time and my bike kept going "clink, clink, clink" on every pedal stroke. Whenever I tried to apply harder force my chain kept jumping, so I had to go slower. But I still went faster than last year!

Autumn whizzed by me on the bike and was out of sight within 15 seconds (so much for the 15 sec. passing rule). Steve (hikergerb) passed me too, but I felt ok since I passed quite a few people...

Not fall over and bend my derailleur.

My transition was so much better than last year! My legs felt like jello, but I've practiced the bike to run transition and am used to the feeling. Today was the first time I rode with my feet on top of the shoes and it worked out fine! I love my speed laces :)

Nothing :)

I took 2 cups of water from the first aid station - dumped one on my head and drank part of the other one - the second aid station I dumped one on my head. I felt like I was pushing pretty hard the whole time and had a photo finish at the end! I saw someone from my age group ahead of me and told myself I had to catch her before the finish. Well, I caught her, but she then sprinted with me to the end. I think we tied.

Nothing - it was great!

Drank water, ate banana, granola bar, doritos, MT Dew, hot dog and chatted with other BTers. We cheered each BTer on as they came in - it was fun!

Went to ColdStone for ice cream after the race with some of the BT gang - Autumn, Kelly (kelpeng), Kris (trigirlkris), Sal (sparco), and Steve (hikergerb).



My fear of the OWS and bent derailleur


This race gets better every year! The people are friendly and helpful, the cops were great with traffic control. They had lots of post-race food, festivities, and door prizes! I won a spinervals DVD - which will help me go even faster on the bike next year! It was great knowing that we had 23 BTers there!

I beat my best bike & run time - woohoo!!! New PRs!!!