Cigar soup, Cambell's broth of stogie. The water, the color of tobacco only strewn with puffy chartruese green algae that looked like waterlogged nuclear rice crispies dumped into an ocean sized bowl of Yoohoo. With every catch and pull, up came a new handfull of goodies from the rainswollen LA River grab bag. A doll head, a plastic bag, a milk carton and a pack of cigarettes, orange peels, lettuce leaves, burrito wrappers.... All suspended in cockroach insectile colored, brown/orange translucent first-flush prime Los Angeles stormwater effluent. LA river stew, we'll call this. Squalid.

Standing on the beach waiting for the siren announcing the start of the first wave, noticing the way the filthy frothy green meandering drift of LA River stew along the shoreline undulates lazily up and down the sands of Long Beach, seemingly infinite in both directions, my mind is easy. No creature, sea monster, or predator of any kind would entertain even the notion of braving this tainted sea of garbage for the unsatisfying respite of a few nearly fat free triathletes. I think I even saw the creature from the black lagoon walk away muttering "f*ck this...." under his breath.

Beyond this water quality issue, it is a great morning. I was fearful that it would still be raining on race day. Nope. A great day, beautiful. All the better to bring this vile ocean witch's brew of a swim course into sharp focus in contrast.

I take a moment away from this scene and wonder how solid my immune system is just now. No telling what kind of genetically mutated, radio active, spetznaz, ass-kciking, type "A" viral colonies are teeming in this water.

Uneventful swim. I had a bit of a hard time breathing. I was focusing mostly on drinking NONE of this stuff.

Oh yeah.... I forgot to start my watch... again..... as usual.

I need to drill for speed. I've just got to learn to swim faster.

Horrible T1. It just wasn't my day. The run up the beach from the swim exit was fine. I managed to get my wetsuit off of my upper body and not get my fist full of goggles, earplugs and swim cap stuck in the sleeve. This is good. Then it all fell apart.

I need to practice strapping into my already mounted shoes. This is a goal for my next race.

This is my best subject. I spent almost the entire time in aero. I was passed a few times but for the most part, this is where I take over. Can I just tell you that I absolutely LOVE my new bike. I recommend it so highly. The only thing that could have been better is a quicker start and a quicker dismount.

This bike course is a blast.



I would start more aggressively. I shouted at folks this time as I was interested in bettering my time from last year and knew this was my only real chance. I could probably have been a bit more assertive.

I thought this was okay, but looking at the results, it clearly was not. I shuld be able to T2 in 1:30 max. I was 1:38 last year and it was my second race ever. Boooooo.

I would train for the run with no socks. The entire delay was with the socks.

The run course takes you out over the breakwater that encloses the downtown marina and separates it from the now garbage spewing mouth of the LA River.

Good christ! If I thought the water was bad at the swim course, you can't even get ready for how bad it is in the channel between the Queen Mary and the Shoreline Marina. Wow! This is a floatilla of a junkyard, literally. I think there was a thin candy crust over the thing. Yikes!

Not a bad run. But not great. I decided I would try to open my stride up and keep my cadence this time. It resulted in an improvement over last year but I still saw plenty of the people I passed on the bike blow by me on the run as if I were reclining in a chaise longue. Nonetheless, this was an above average run for me.

Learn how to run. I dawdle. I don't run.

T3. I call it. I want a quick T3. I'm not going to win any awards, My goal is to get a sub 4 minute T3 which entails cheering on as many people as I can as I make my way back to transition and pack my stuff and get outta there. My goal is to be home sipping coffee and watching cartoons by 9:30. 9:53. Missed it by that much......



Just the few things I mentioned above. I'll focus on my running again this of-season. Off season seems a long ways away though.


Pacific Sports does a fine job. There are minor pecadillos as in any race, but they are minor. Not worth a mention (ahem, race result format is a little weak). The traffic control was fantastic as it was last year. The control of mother nature was also commendable as it was last year. The first flush rain event I cannot, in good concience, blame on the race director. These guys do a fine job.

Success! the young Spratt is now encouraged, having watched a few youngsters his age or less cross the finish line before me, despite the fact that their wave started later, to train for a sprint tri. If for no other reason than to prove that he can kick his mom's boyfriend's a$$! I feel good about this.

The swim course was fowled badly by what amounts to poor luck, but this was still a wonderfully organized event in my opinion. I recommend it to all.