This was a very difficult swim. First of all, sighting was really tough, especially on the first leg when it was still really foggy. Secondly, both out and back legs had a cross current, which made staying on course tough. Third, there were attack bouys! When you finally got close to a bouy, it would all of a sudden be moving, and then on top of you, and then you'd get tangled in its anchor line. This happened to me 3 times!!

Stay farther away from the bouys! I could have focused more on my stroke, also. Sometimes I got into the grove, but often I was worried about sighting and breathing every stroke and looking around, etc.

No problems on the transition. I saw Richard leaving just as I was getting to my bike.
23rd / 55
1st / 2

I felt good on the bike. I worked hard! I passed more people than I was passed by. I passed, got passed, and repassed two guys a few times. One of them had an ironman tatoo. Gatorade handoff was smooth. Hills were pretty good. There were some people walking hills. I rode past them at 5 mph, wheezing, ha. Max speed was 37.6 mph.

nada

no problems. it was getting pretty sunny, so i poured some water on me before taking off.
35th / 55
1st / 2

i should have pulled the timing chip out from under my sock. it was rubbing and painful and I had to stop on the run to fix it.

well, i had no expectations. i just wanted to finish. i started running. i started getting abdominal cramps (which has been a problem recently). i let myself walk for a minute at mile 1 and mile 2, and then at all the water stops. The cramps lasted for 4 miles. Painful, but bearable. Slowed me down obviously. I did have some times where I felt good and strong. Then mile 4, the cramps finally diminished, at which point I realize, Holy cow, I'm exhausted. I hadn't noticed before how spent my legs were. mile 4 was good. I saw richard around there and he was only a mile into it. i spent the rest of the race wondering what happened to him. i thought he must have had a flat, but actually he got lost and did 14 extra miles on the bike. mile 5 i started having the threat of runner's trots. I wasn't running for the finish anymore, but the port-o-potty. staying cool was tough, but i did a pretty good job, i think. run course was low on shade.

train more.

also, i gotta figure out the whole gas cramps thing. tried phazyme this time, didn't help. or not much. i ate less before and almost nothing during the race.

10 min in the port-o-potty. limp over to food and drink. i went to wait for richard to come in. but then i thought, he probably finished already, so i went to look for him. didn't have energy to look. got my cheesburger. ate it. got up to go to transition, and there was richard finishing. i got him food and drink and consoled him on getting lost. we stayed for the awards. i won the athena division!! i think there were only two of us though, so that's pathetic, but i'll take it.


light on training this year. fog on the water. bad bouys. abdominal cramping.


This was a small, friendly race with great food and great swag (a dri shirt and an insulated bike bottle). It's a tough race, particularly in the swim. The miles were marked on both bike and run, although not with great precision. There were also friendly comments or info marked on the road. The volunteers and organization and support and food were all great. A big problem though was that there weren't volunteers at one corner, and a bunch of people took a wrong turn and biked extra (like my poor husband). They did figure it out and posted someone there later on.