I started on the very far left because there were a ton of competitors and I chose to do a few extra meters over dealing with all the flailing arms and feet.

The gun went off, I went to start my watch and there was a message that said, "hold button to unlock". WTF?! I never locked my watch! I don't know HOW to lock my watch. So, I played around with it for a couple seconds and got it started. This was actually a good thing, because it kept me from rocketing like I did in the Tempe race.

I had a good, slow start to the side of the aqua-kickboxing match to my right and was doing a great job passing the mob. When we went around the first buoy, I was really cruising and swam around all the people who were climbing over each other to get that 2 more inches closer to the buoy.

Everything was going great. My pace was nice, I was feeling fast, and nobody was in my way, when all of a sudden the half-way point came and I decided I couldn't breathe! I had to stop and tread water while gasping for breath. Damn. It was at this point that I looked around and saw that there were no kayakers or any boats to come help if I needed it. Neato. It actually made me laugh at how screwed I was if I couldn't regain myself and this calmed me down a bit.

After all kinds of people passed me, I started moving again. By this time, all the frog-kickers and back-strokers were with me. I had to spend the rest of the race trying to get through them.

As I was exiting the water, I heard Steve call out my name and he was coming out also. He didn't look too happy and told me he puked and had a bad swim. We undid each others' suits and then made our way to the transition area.

BREATHE!!!! This is the 2nd time I came to a race feeling perfectly prepared for the OWS, only to find myself hyperventilating 400 meters out. Why is this happening?

I came in before all the other ESCKTC crew, so I took this opportunity to phone in a pizza order, take a shower, wash my bike and welcome all of them them in from their swim and watch them take off. LOL! I was also having a hard time getting my shirt on, so Tanya walked up and yanked it down for me. She gave me some words of encouragement like "How can a 42 yr old not know how to dress himself"? and then took off.

I finished waiting for my pizza delivery, ate, and then decided to go for a bike ride.

Hurry a little. Pretend I was in a race.

The ride felt nice. I was working hard, but had shooting pain from my hip, down my left leg every once in a while. It wasn't going to do any good to worry about it, so I just kept going and working as hard as I could. This has been my weakest event, so I found a little piece of eye-candy to draft behind after the turn-around. This kept my mind off my leg and my speed up.

One observation I did make during the race, is that only 2 people out of maybe 100 that passed me said "To you left" as they went by. Weird. I made sure I said it to the one person I passed.

Nothing. I did my best with what I had.

When I got to my transition spot, Cora was there cheering me on and asked me if I was going to try to run. I got my legs over the bike and felt my back spasm and said "No Way". I took my time getting my shoes on and took off.

Nothing

I tried to walk, but I couldn't see why or how I could try my best for the swim and bike, only to let everyone pass me on the run. So, I started jogging slow. It was pretty painful for the first few minutes, but I loosened up and got into a slow pace. I had to walk twice to catch my breath after a hill, but I was ok with that.

The last 3/4 mile was rough. My stomach was twisted in knots and I was tired, but I kept telling myself that I could walk when I finished. I'm glad I did because Harry and Josh passed the other way and it felt great to hear them rooting me on.

Nothing

While we waited for the rest of the ESCKTC to come in, I got a nice massage.


Not being able to train this past month.


When I got to the finish line, they handed me a coffee cup and a medal. WOW! How did they know I liked coffee so much? AND I got a medal!!

Cora and Astrid were waiting for me at the end and welcomed me back. I actually felt pretty emotional for being back to this race after so many years, and for doing it with an injury. A lot has happened since I raced there, and it seems like things have come full-circle.

This was a great race. I will be back next year to eat up the course. I hope all my friends will be there with me again.