Pretty good run in from the beach. Three of us all swam into each other and formed a pile, but we got seperated and no real issues with other swimmers after that. My HR was higher than normal for an OWS, so I actually had to tread for a couple of seconds every now and then to get a few more breaths, since I was going pretty hard.

I was a little surprised that half of the women didn't seem to have on wetsuits! The water temp. realy wasn't all that cold, but I figure, if it's legal, I'm wearing one! I always swim faster with one on. Speaking of which, either I really was swimming hard and having my fastest swim EVER, or the course was measured wrong. I have a feeling the course was on the short side, but I'll just pretend that it's because I have gotten that much faster! :)

Exiting the water, there is a line of volunteers to help you out and get your wetsuit unzipped. As they were unzipping my wetsuit, I noticed that over to the side in the water were two teenager volunteers stripping people out of the wetsuits. I don't think a whole lot of people realized that they were there. I went over plopped down in the water and within seconds had my wetsuit in my arms and was off.

Stay on course a little better! I kept veering to the right and would then have to correct myself. I'm sure I must have tag on some additional meters.

Best T1 time in my AG- thanks to the wetsuit strippers! It was a longish run to and out from my bike rack.

Nothing.

The first two climbs were long and steep, but not too bad. I stayed seated for every climb. I probably could have stood up and gone up a little faster, but I really didn't want to use up all of my energy at the very beginning. The first descent at the start was nice! I didn't feel too nervous going down that one fast. The descents on the way back to transition I had to feather my brakes several times to control my speed, because that was a little scary how fast you could get going. I like speed, but not on a steep hill!

After the turn around I noticed a scraping kind of sound coming from my back tire. It was very distracting and I started worrying about it. It sounded a little like my brake was rubbing against my rim. I ended up pulling over to the side and getting off my bike to take a look. I adjusted my brake a little, but that didn't really help because when I got going again, it was still making that noise. I just kept going after that, since there wasn't much else I could do.

Really inspect my bike well before a race.

3/7 for my AG.

It was a long run from the dismount line and it was very narrow. A guy and I got stuck behind a slow person heading back to his rack. I finally yelled for him to speed it up, and the guy in front told him to move to his right. We were then able to get by.

Not get behind a slow transition person! :) Just kidding!

What an awful run! I completely lost it "mentally" on the run! I started off all right, but shortly into it, I had to walk. I had been battling heartburn all of the bike leg, so my stomach just started feeling yucky too. I think I must have walked at least half of the total run. I would run for awhile, then walk, run, then walk. I didn't take any Gu like I should and normally do, because my stomach was feeling off. Mentally I just gave up! I remember thinking- "I don't care if that girl, who just past me, is in my age group. She can have it!" Also, "I don't deserve to place if I'm having to walk this much!" Towards the end I started to feel a little more together, so I was able to have a decent finish.

For all that I went through on the run, I was extremely surprised that I even averaged less than a 10 minute mile.

I'm not sure what got to me- the heat, my heartburn, dehydration, elevation, etc... It was probably a combination of all of those.

Next time I will definitely take some heartburn medicine before the race. :)

Also, I need to practice chanting some motovating mantras in my head to get me through mentally when things aren't going well!

Met up with Raegan, our boys, and members of Raegan's family. Hiked up the hill with all of our gear to put in our car so that we could go back down and swim with the kiddos and other family members.

Found out that I did get third in my age group, so I started to hunt for where they were doing the awards. I couldn't find it and no volunteers could point me in the right direction. After seeing some people I knew (they were hunting for it too), we eventually found it. I got up there and they were calling out a lady's name, but I didn't know what age group they were on. I was just about to ask when they called out my name. Perfect timing! I got my picture frame award, then headed off to swim with my family. Getting in the lake again felt pretty refreshing!


My mental state on the run! :)


Overall- a good race! It's a fun race and the location is great to hangout with kids afterwards!