This just sucked. I freaked out almost instantly. I made it to an intermediate buoy, hung on to try to calm down. Got going again, made it to a kayak, hung on to try to calm down. Made it to the first turn buoy and decided to heck with it, and went backstroke the rest of the way (which threw me way off course, since you can't sight on your back and probably pissed off some folks coming after me). Sad, sad, sad.

I kept thinking on the way in that I was close enough to touch the ground, but every time I tested, I went under. I was almost on the beach before I could walk it in. Then, just to torture me more, there was a long run (plodding walk in my case) up the beach and uphill on a sidewalk before the swim end timing mat...so my swim was only 80% as slow as it seems. ;)

Practice OWS. Swim more in general. Learn a new safety stroke (besides back...my breast stroke is even worse than my free).

I hated every minute of this swim, but I'm ready to go out and try again.

Well, if they ranked transitions, I would be 9/22! Smokin!

Another long run (march?) from the swim end to the T zone. I walked it until I reached level ground, rinsed my feet, and then jogged to my bike. Switched my gear, drank some water with Nuun, and ate a little gel. I don't usually do this in T1, but I wasn't feeling quite myself and I took it more easily than I normally do.

Not lose it on the swim. :)

Well this sucked too. First, as I'm pulling out of transition, there are announcements about a bike accident which seemed to be a bad omen. (Sorry to hear it was you, Adollar - hope you're OK!) The leading men were coming in as I was in the first couple miles out. Most of the hills seemed to come in the first few miles, when I wasn't fully recovered from the swim. I just couldn't get into it, couldn't get settled, whatever, and then finally, my bike drops its chain, to top off the day. I was able to get it back on, and keep going, which I think makes me a rockstar. (I take comfort wherever I can find it.) Made it through the rest, and then as I was heading back into the park and the t-zone these idiot cars stopped in front of me and slowed me down. (Not so much, but it was irritating nonetheless.)

This is the worst time I've ever gotten on the bike. All I could think about was the fact that nothing bad could happen to me on the run. ;)

Not lose it on the swim. (This pretty much sums up my whole RR, but it bears repeating.) Also, maybe ride some more hills. Ride some more period.

Another good transition - only issue was running around the yahoos who were done with their race but milling around in transition without a care in the world...I took the rest of my gel & changed shoes (first tri with my Yankz laces - good stuff).

Nothing. I knew I wasn't going to die once I got to the run. I love to run.

WHOO WHOO! Who's that smokin' running girl? Oh, that would be me. OK, not so much, but definitely my best discipline of the day. And it was the most fun. I talked to the guys volunteering on the course. I talked to the water stop folks. I talked to this girl who had the cutest running skirt. I talked to LHablas who was spectating near the finish. I talked to these two women I was passing at the 3 mile mark - I challenged them to a "race to the finish" but they declined. Oh well...I ran it in by myself, which I'm sure will produce a hideous finish line photo, unobscured by other folks. :)

Maybe run a little faster. I know I can, but by the time I got there, I was mostly just laughing about the day and I couldn't take it seriously. I'd like to get my tri 5K's under 11min/mile (well, I'd like to get them under 10, but since my best standalone 5K is currently in the 28min range, I'm not going to be overly optimistic. Running - yeah, that's one of my goals for this off-season.

Well, the chip-removal lady was irritated with me, because I stuck a strip of masking tape around my ankle strap (after reading about the chip-losing incident on the tri-talk board)...

Wandered around looking for the t-shirt tent. You do realize, that's the only reason I finished. No no - that's not true. I finished because I willed myself to do it - the tshirt was just proof. Talked to some nice ladies in the food line. (Yep, that's me - chatty Cathy all of a sudden.) Talked to some guys in the food line who were in admiration of the "A" on the back of my leg...wanted to know how they could get one. I told them they were out of luck, as they had to be a larger sized female. ;) Went up and packed up my stuff and then went back to hunt for Kaz - fortuitously ran into her on the sidewalk (because in my haze, I never would have actually "found" her). We packed up our gear and then started the death march back to the cars...during which time I got very sick to my stomach and sat on the side of the road for a while (gear, bikes & all) with Kaz. She was great to wait with me. Lots of folks expressed concern, but at this point, I wasn't in the chatting mood anymore.


The SWIM from hell. The HILLS. The chain-dropping incident.


A good race. My first by GAMultisports (makes sense since the rest of my races were in VA). It started a little late, but the volunteers were great, the food & t-shirts are nice. My only complaint is the parking sitch, which wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't sick.