The first part of the swim sucked. It was my first open water swim and the area where we started was full of seaweed. We were in the water just surrounded by the stuff which was really nerve-racking. Then the gun went off and I was so discombobulated. I got completely off course finding the first bouy and probably swam an extra 100 meters. But, once we rounded the first bouy I got my act together and really took off. I could watch the groups ahead of me and swim fast and in the correct direction. I started passing men from the 2 wave groups ahead of me and then it started to get crowded again. One guy really upset me as I was passing him he saw my cap and decided not to let me pass. Nothing angers me more then someone picking it up as I try to pass them, so I took off and toasted him. I then broke through the crowds and as I rounded the last bouy I saw only 2 pink caps in front of me. One was almost out of the water, the other was about 100 meters ahead - about half way to the finish. I just had to catch her so I took off. I beat her out of the water by about 7 seconds. So, that felt really good.

Try to relax at the beginning and get on course immediately - if I hadn't gotten off course I could have shaved a ton of time off the swim.

I took my time, I wanted my heart rate to recover and wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything. So, I ran up the chute and then when I hit the racks were my bike was, I slowed down and started recovering. I made sure I put my knee braces on, then my shoes and helmet, had half a clif shot and then took off with my bike.

Not have knee braces =). Next time I might move faster, but this was my first time so I wanted to really go slow and make sure I did everything correctly.

I took it nice and slow in the beginning, letting people pass me and taking it slow to warm up. It was really hard not just taking off, but I convinced myself not to get competitive. Once I got going though, I did really well. I made it a point not to walk the bike at all and to pass at least one person on every uphill. I felt really strong on the first huge hill when everyone around me jumped off their bikes to walk. I climbed it strong. The Raven Ride really prepared me both mentally and physically for how challenging this course was. I felt really strong on all the hills and passed tons of people on the uphills, so that was great motivation to keep going strong.

Not much, for me it was a great ride! I should have pushed harder on the downhills, but I was afraid of going too fast with so many people clogged up in front of me, I wanted to stay safe, but probably could have gone a bit faster.

I took it slow. Chad hadn't caught up with me yet, so I started taking my time here in hopes he would catch me on the run.

Not take my time waiting for Chad. Since this was our first race, we wanted to run together so I started putzing here.

My run sucked! I'm actually super duper surprised it was as fast as it was, I felt like I wasn't moving at all. It took me forever to catch up to a walker which didn't do much for the old ego. But, I always knew the run was my worst leg, and the fact that I either pulled my hamstring or bruised my tailbone on Wednesday and couldn't even walk didn't help much. I was in so much pain but pushed through, walking a bit more then I wanted to but not too much.

Not injure myself before? =) Actually I think if I wasn't injured I would have done really well, even with hurting so much my time was right where I expected. So, on a race this short I would have pushed a lot harder on the run

Cheering on the finish line waiting for Chad


My butt/hamstring injury made the run super painful and having to put on my knee braces in transition slowed me down a bit.


My first race down - I am officially a triathlete!!! I don't know how I'm going to wait until March for my next race - it was so fun I want to do one again sooner! :-)