Decent swim considering it was the first OWS without a wetsuit. It took about 30 sec to actually find water deep enough to swim in. I went relatively easy out to the first mark so as not to get caught in the washing machine. After the first mark, I got into my typical pace and started passing a lot of people in my age group and one or two from the previous start. Sighting was right on it except for the final leg, which I think I took too wide. A chick did swim over top of me on that last leg, which I thought was kind of funny considering I was a little off course. That girl was frickn fast though.

Need to be more aggressive at the start. Sucks passing people that revert to frog style kicking. They make too wide of an obstruction. And when I go to pass, they get back in freestyle. Be faster at the start and draft off the fast dudes.

Decent T1. Put my cycling shoes on in transition. No wetsuit.

Hammered the flats and downhills! If it was flat, I was going 24+. Climbing still sucks ass in a major way. Not too much to say about this one. I pretty much held my ground on the bike. Had a gel with about 3 miles to go. The last turn into the park was a tight downhill; I thought for sure someone was going to wipeout. I made up a lot of ground on the downhills and turns and was able to pass people that passed me on the hills. The little climb to the dismount line cause a little bit of a jam-up, but I managed not to stop.

Know the course. The course was mostly rolling; should have known which hills to power over and which ones to sit back and spin. At least I knew where the big ones were from the map on BT. I can't complain, but I probably could have come up with another .25 mph. Heard course lengths from 15.6 to 16.2. I had 16.2, which included the ~.1 mi to the line from the rack, so my comp is still slightly off. But it was definitely more than 15.5.
Order my tri shoes sooner so I can wear them and learn that fancy trick all the cool kids do.

Stupid me racked the bike from the wrong side and had to run to the other to get to my stuff. Good T2 though. I did feel a slight cramp in my right calf, which was a little concern. I ended up being nothing; probably just a little tight from hammering that last little hill to the dismount line.

Sucked ASS! Not too bad really considering I can't run a 5k at a decent clip anyway. The first two miles were awful. I mean just shuffle jogging really. Made sure to give props to Riddle, Scott, and the Richmond Tri Members that I saw on the way to the finish during my first mile. I was basically in "defend my position" at this point. I had to let a few age groupers go. I was hoping that I had put enough time between most of them on the bike. I was at 18' at mile 2. The worst of the hills were behind me so I was able to pick it up a bit. I told myself that I could do that last mile in 8 min and managed to get on it. So the last 1.1 mile was in 8 min, which wasn't too bad for me. Good thing since the next age grouper was 20 sec behind me. There was an overall dude 3 sec behind me in the standings too! Just goes to show that you should always finish strong even if someone is not on your tail.

Duh! Run more! Suck it up at the start and RUN! Stop being a pansy, who cares if you can't feel your legs moving! I was hoping to push myself at the start of the run, but that damn hill sapped my determination. I was surprised to see my HR avg was only 181. I think I could have pushed that closer to 185 for most of the 5k.

water and gator-aid, cookies. stretched a little. praying my knee didn't start hurting.
Got to Fredericksburg, and drank some beer.