The swim made me rethink my decision to participate in this race. It was a reverse Tri, so it was the last event. The thinking is that by the end of a race, people should be spread out and able to swim in the pool w/out incident. Well, I'm a MoP'er, and we weren't spread out, and there were incidents! There were so many people in the pool, many weren't swimming, and those of us who wanted to couldn't. I tried to pass the two walkers in front of me but one of them threw a fit and started punching me from behind. A nice kick to the head/shoulder area made him stop, but an argument ensued at the end of the lane. I gave up trying to pass people at that point.

Be faster than a MoP'er so I could have the pool to myself or not do this race.

I don't know my transition times. I felt fast relative to the other races I've done this year, so I think there was some improvement. I didn't order out for pizza, or sit and visit with everyone like I did at Mountain Man. Harry didn't set up his transition bar-b-que like he said he would, so I had to get going.

This was the bike to Swim transition. I just threw everything off and jogged to the pool of death. Years of watching Ultimate Fighting aided in this portion of the race. Thank you Mr. Hoyce Grace and Ken Shamrock!!

Although I was VERY tired from PR'ing the run, I really thought I did better than my time showes. The first mile was a hill, and I passed at least 7 people. This psyched me up. All through the first lap, I would catch someone and pass them. It felt AWESOME to get to say "On your left" over and over again!

When I started the 2nd lap, I could feel my right calf start to cramp up. I kept thinking "Great, you had a good 1st lap and now you're going to cramp up and everyone is going to blow by you". (This happened in college when I did a run to bike race) I slurped a GU down, drank tons of water, and made my left leg work harder. This worked, and although my calf would twinge, it never fully cramped up. I kept concentrating on catching whoever was in front of me.

Out of the two laps, I counted 6-7 people who passed me, and I passed way more than that. This made me think my bike was better than it was. I will say that I FELT stronger than the races before, and during the whole race I kept thanking the ESCKTC for the Sunday rides.

Train harder!!

This was the run to bike transition. Not the fastest in the world because my heart rate was SCREAMING and I wanted to slow it down for the bike. I also didn't want to forget anything.

Practice more

The run was TOUGH! I started out in front with Fitz, Tanya, Sally and Dan. When the race started, people took off at a full sprint. Dan and I made a point to pace ourselves and let people pass. And they did. Tons of them. I just kept telling myself that I'd catch many of them later in the run or on the bike. I really didn't catch as many as I thought. That's ok because I had a great run for me. The course was actually pretty hilly.

During the run, I saw my heart rate up to 184 so I stopped and walked until it got below 180. When I'd start back up, I tried hard to go slow but my legs really wanted to move . I decided on a pace somewhere between what my legs and my heart rate wanted.

I was pleased at the amount of water stations. Being as hot as it was, they were needed.

Save something for the bike

Gatorade and oranges while hanging out with the ESCKTC.


I'm giving this race an "Average" rating because of the annoying/@sshole coordinator and the terrible swim conditions. The run and bike were great though.

I have noticed that the bike is the most important event of the 3. I ranked 134 overall in the bike, and guess what? I ranked 134 overall. I also ranked 12 in the bike in my AG, and got 12 in my AG overall.

Although I thought I had done better than I actually did, I'm still happy. In May, I was last in my AG. In the Mountain Man, I was 3rd to last. I was 6th to last in this race. I'm improving! What's most important is that I'm having fun, have met some amazing people that I now call friends, and it's only been 6 months since I've started all this.