Because I was racing as an Athena, I had to go off in the first timers wave. There were about 100 people in the wave and I moved out to the very front. Ran out quick and soon found myself fairly far in front of the pack. Found a relay swimmer to draft off of, tried to switch positions about halfway through to let him draft of me, but he wanted no part of it. By the second half of the course I was having a few issues navigating through the slower swimmers from the prior wave. No big issues, I popped out of the water 3rd in my wave (behind 2 relay swimmers).

I would have preferred to go off in the first wave, but otherwise it was a really solid swim. Some post-swim elbow and shoulder aches, but nothing serious.

I have no idea about my T1 time other than it was long. There was about a .4 mile run between the swim out and the transition area. Ran the whole way (in bare feet) and once I was in transition I was pretty quick about getting on the bike and heading off.

Nothing.

I rode fairly well overall. Only two complaints (there are always complaints, I know I'm nevre completely happy): (1) Because I went off in the 2nd wave I passed about 40 people on the bike, the problem was several of them had no idea what they were doing. People were ride on the left hand side of the rode on the side streets and right next to the double yellow on the road making it difficult to pass even though I kept yelling "on your left." One girl asked why I couldn't just pass her on the right!; (2) There was a massive pelothon at the front of the pack. About 10 riders in a huddle. Seeing there was some wind, definately not fair. They did get caught by the race official, but when I taked to her after the race she admitted it was crappy situation and she wasn't able to give out as many penalties as they deserved.

Not much. I know I can get faster on the bike, but that's really just a matter of time.

Quick transition. Saw Chris quick, told him I was doing well and took off on the run.

Nothing.

Overall a good run for me. Was able to pass another 10 or so people on the run. Took it out fairly fast, maintained pace even on the hills and then ran it in hard.

Kepp running. The run is definately coming together. As with the bike I just need to keep working on it.

Walked around, chatted with Danielle and Steve for a while. Got water and a banana. Watched Chris finished. Chatted some more. Packed up and then waited around for awards. Was pretty psyched about my finish. Even more psyched to find out that not only did I place 1st in Athena, but that had I raced AG, I would have also placed 1st in 25-29 (and I came in 8th overall among all women).


The fitness is getting better and the weight is going down, but those are still the major limiters. Losing another 20-25 lbs will make a massive difference.


My only issue with this race was the timing. I love Greystone (they do the timing for all the HTC races I'm RD of) but they don't have chips. Without chips its really tough to time a tri (especially one with multiple waves). As of 24 hours after the race, they still haven't been able to post final results and the preliminary results they have posted still have the "extra" 5 minutes on them (the difference in start times between the first and second waves).