So the horn went off and I was running in the water at the front of the pack for once. I must have dove in vigorously because my goggles popped off. Damn! I had to stop, empty the water and put them back on. No longer at the front. Oh well, I thought I'd catch up. Immediately my right goggle began filling up with water. I tried to swim despite it, but it was distracting and I still had a long swim ahead of me, so I had to once again stop and fix it. I watched the field of green caps pass me at an alarming rate. Damn!

I finally got going and just didn't feel right. My heart rate and breathing rate were both out of control. I think it had a little to do with the late warm up and a lot to do with the cold. I didn't feel panicky exactly, but I did feel like I couldn't get enough air. That is a bad feeling. I tried to slow down and get my breathing normal but I couldn't. I treaded water for a few seconds...more green caps passed me...and I tried again. It was still happening, so I treaded a second time for much longer, while fixing my once again leaky goggle. Tons of women passed me, but I had to get my breathing under control.

I finally got going and was past the first buoy at this point. It was nice to not have the whole shark fear thing this time, but otherwise, this swim completely and totally sucked. I kept going and eventually rounded the second buoy and was now heading back to shore. I had a steady, but not fast clip. I was passing some women, but not nearly enough. Luckily, the field of swimmers was really spread out, so I had a lot of room. At one point I checked my watch and it said 11 minutes. I didn't think I could get back to shore in 4 minutes, but it was worth a shot. I sped up a little, but then slowed down again. It was cold, and I just decided it was better to stay at a comfortable clip and not push it.

This swim felt long. Well, it was longer than it should have been. I finally felt the mushy bottom, stood up and had to take a second to get my bearings. The cold water left me super dizzy. I looked down and the swim that should have taken me 15 minutes took 20. Damn! That sucks! (What I didn't realize at the time is that this race was closer to .75 of a mile, not a half. My time was much better than I realized!) I popped up the goggles and jogged up the short beach. I passed my mom and kids who were cheering. I passed my husband and was shaking my head and told him how bad I'd done. But, remembering how a bad swim performance had f-ed me up my attitude at Hermosa, I decided to try to put it behind me and focus on T1 and the bike.

First of all, I now know not to enter an OW swim race in late November. Don't think I'll do that again, at least not without a long sleeved wetsuit. Second, I'll allow more time between warm up and the race start so that I can get my heart rate and breathing back to normal. Third, I'm getting new goggles. Period. Fourth, I will be more careful diving in.

The first part of T1 was painful. My toes were cramping up as they were so cold from the swim. I had to run on them over gravel, asphalt and cement. It hurt like crazy. I got into the transition area and it was a long run to my rack. When I got there I already had my wetsuit around my waist and caps and goggles off, but I was super dizzy. I got my wetsuit down quickly but couldn't for the freaking life of me get it off my ankles. I was just too dizzy and struggled for way too long.

When I was finally freed from my neoprene vice, I got a gel and got my shirt on. I tossed aside my arm warmers, leg warmers, and beanie. I was afraid of getting too hot on the bike. I got into my socks...slowly...and into my bike shoes. This was my first race in clipless pedals, so I was a little nervous about that. I got on my glasses and helmet and bent over for something. When I did, some water dripped onto my glasses. Dang! That will be annoying. So, I stopped and got the towel and dried them. I know...time lost. As I pulled my bike off the rack, it knocked over the woman's set up next to me. Her running shoe, sock and hat that she had laid out were all messed up. I felt bad, so I stopped to fix them. I then ran the short distance to the mount line.

I would put my glasses on last, or not bend over once I'm wearing them. Also, I would look down to make sure I hadn't forgot anything. You'll see why in a minute...

At the mount line I clipped in my right foot easily, but struggled with the left. I rode quite a ways trying to do this. Luckily I was able to hold my line while trying. The first part of the course was a fairly long parking lot. There was a lot of gravel. I cringed as I rode over it half expecting my tires to go flat. Luckily they didn't. At the end of the parking lot we had to maneuver around those teeth things.

This put me out on Puddingstone Dr. This was a nice stretch. I needed some time to warm up and get up to speed. I was also thirsty and needed time to take in fluids. I have a cool new clear bike bottle that I can much more easily gauge how much I've had to drink. Cool.

I rode out past Brackett Airport. I was keeping a decent clip, though I was getting passed by a lot of the men in the wave behind me. It was kinda cool watching the little planes take off and land while riding in this otherwise bleak area. I made the right turn onto Fairplex and went through a puddle. Dirty water splashed up into my face. Gross. This stretch of Fairplex, between Brackett and the Fairgrounds, was a nice long gradual downhill. I just stopped pedaling to rest my legs for the climbs I knew were coming. I also got more fluids at this point.

I turned left onto McKinley which was an easy road. I then took a right on the other part of Fairplex and rode right past my cousin's street. This was the beginning of a gradual climb. No biggy.

I made the right turn onto Via Verde and was mentally gearing up for the hills. The first was a smallish hill near the horse stables. No problem. It leveled off a bit, and then there was a much bigger hill up toward the Bonelli kiosk. This was tough. My legs hurt and my breathing and HR were high, but I made it without having to walk. Yay!

I got to the top and after the right turn there was a big, long downhill. At Long Beach and Catalina, I was scared of going too fast, and never went over 24 mph. I knew these roads were wide with wide turns, so I opened up a little and hit 32 mph. Fun!

After that there were some flat areas, until the dreaded climb at the Bonelli entrance. Again, my quads were screaming and my breathing was insane, but I did it. I rounded the corner onto Raging Waters Dr. and enjoyed the nice flats up and around the dam. As I went over the dam I looked over at Raging Waters. I used to go there a lot in Junior High and High School, so it brought back a lot of fun memories.

I started the downhill that I knew led into the trickiest part of the course. I got my gears all ready to climb. At the bottom of the downhill, there is a hairpin turn, practically a U-turn, that results in a steep uphill. This hill is steeper than the others, though shorter. It was a tough climb, but I did it.

After some more flats, I hit the 7 mile halfway point. I was glad to be half done, thrilled that I didn’t have to walk any of it, though disappointed to see that my average speed was only 11 mph. I know it was because of the hills, but that's really slow...even for me.

Lap 2 around Brackett and the Fairgrounds was mostly uneventful. Somewhere around mile 10 I looked down and thought...holy crap...where are my bike gloves??? Apparently in my T1 dizziness I hadn't put them on. I usually feel naked without them and was shocked that it took 10 miles for me to freaking notice they were missing!

McKinley and Fairplex were again uneventful. I turned onto Via Verde and knew that I probably couldn't ride the entire second loop as I had the first time. That took a ton out of me and I could feel that I just didn't have it in me. Plus, I had felt last night and this morning like a cold was coming on, and I was really feeling it now.

The climb past the horses was harder, but doable. As I started the tougher one near the kiosk I saw a woman walking her bike. I'm glad I did because I didn't feel so bad when I had to get off mine halfway up. I tried like hell to ride the whole hill, but my quads were spent. There was no way it was happening. Luckily, unlike Catalina, this was only a few minutes of walking.

I got to the top, clipped in faster than at the mount line, and looked forward to the big crazy downhill. I decided to lay off the brakes and see how fast I could go. I couldn't believe it when the bike computer showed 38 mph. I've NEVER gone that fast. It was exhilarating, but scary. The whole bike was vibrating. I was so aware of the fact that if I hit one errant flaw in the road, I could be looking at a lifetime bound to a wheelchair. It was scary, but insanely fun.

I enjoyed the flats and rested my legs. I then started the big climb near the entrance and once again, got halfway up before my quads said "yeah...we're done here". I clipped out and walked to the top. At the corner I was back on and enjoyed my last ride over the dam. At this point there were also runners on the dam, so I had to be careful of them.

On the downhill I got my front gear ready for the climb. I then went into the downhill-hairpin-uphill crazy turn. As I came out of the turn I went to shift my back gears and they made that crunchy/grindy noise no one wants to hear and wouldn't shift. I had to quickly clip out and walk the bike up the short hill. I'm bummed because I could have made this hill! I got to the top, clipped in, started to ride, and the pedals wouldn't go. Oh crap. I got off and checked out the chain. It was still on the back cogs, but was off the derailleur. Great. This was all I need...and within a mile of the freaking transition area.

I flipped it over, though forgot to close my water bottle. I had red Gatorade splashing down on everything. Nice. I tried to get the chain back on, but couldn’t. Then two nice women who were friends and riding together stopped. One offered to help and I told her it was okay, to just keep racing. She got off and said that was silly, and she'd help me. She was so sweet! She quickly fixed the problem and I was back on my bike in no time. Thank you so much nice leaning Tower of Pisa bike jersey lady. You rock!!! I then finished the ride and rode into T2 in better spirits then I was at T1.

I really need to work on hill practice. I barely did this season and it shows. There aren't any convenient hilly areas near me, which is a problem. I would have also liked to have had more practice with clipless. I only did one ride with them before using them today, though I think I did pretty well.

As I dismounted I saw my family cheering near the transition area so I waved. I quickly got back to my rack, though there were two other bikes where mine used to be, so I had to move mine down the rack. I quickly dumped the bike gear, sans gloves, and got into running gear. I waved to my posse, then ran out of the area. I couldn't believe it! This was my fasted T2 yet.

Nothing. It was a fast, smooth transition.

As I headed into the run I was optimistic and energetic. I knew I had 4.5 miles of trail running ahead of me, but was ready for it...or so I thought. Right away I noticed that my lower back was in pain. I had to stop and stretch it out, and then kept running. Initially we were on sidewalks near the parking lot, but then turned and were on a dirt path.

I had started wheezing a little at the end of the bike, and vowed to use my inhaler in T2. However, I totally forgot and was now realizing I'd had to do this 4.5 mile run with asthma. Damn. There was a nice woman walking about my speed that I talked to a bit at this point. I was enjoying the cool trail through dense greenery, until I realized they had not closed this path to mountain bikers. Every time one of them rode by, we were inhaling a big cloud of dirt. My asthma just escalated and I was struggling to breathe even more. This was discouraging as I was no more than a half of a mile into this long run.

Around this time the top of my right hamstring began to really hurt. I had to stop and stretch it out a bit, but then kept running. My left arch, the one with the heel spur and plantar fasciatis was started to ache a tad at this point, but I tried not to think about it. We went up a short hill to the first water station. It said one mile and I was shocked to see I had gone a 15 minute mile, given the stopping and stretching. This made me happy.

I ran 3 minutes farther and saw a "1 mile" sign for the triathlon. Oh crap...that had been the one mile marker for the Turkey Trot. Dang. I had gone an 18 minute mile. Oh well.

At this point we were heading up and through a campground. A few people passed me at this point, though I had passed the walking lady who was now occasionally jogging. Toward the end of the campground, my arch started really...I mean REALLY hurting. I slowed down...didn't help. I walked...didn't help. It was getting excruciating. Now, I didn't know what to do. There was a body of water between me and the transition area. I had to either walk a mile and a half back to take a DNF, or walk 3 miles to complete the race. I opted to keep moving forward.

At this point I stopped a lot. I stretched my calf and arch. I tried changing up my shoe inserts. I tried massaging my arch. I even walked a while without my left shoe, only in my sock. No matter what, it hurt like hell. I was so discouraged, but didn't know what choice I had, other than to keep pushing forward.

A few more people passed me. At one point a nice guy went by and high fived me. He was sweet. Then another guy was passing me and I asked him if anyone else was behind him. He said "No, I think I'm last". Great...looks like I get to be DFL. I'm DFL in the middle of mile 2! Now I know...DFL is better than DNF is better than DNS...blah, blah, blah. That's all nice in theory, but freaking sucks when you're DFL and no where near the end.

I slowly walked for a while and was able to eventually mix jogging and walking. I was in pain with each step. I almost felt like I was going to start crying, but I sucked it up and kept going. I just kept wondering how much damage I was doing to that foot and how much recovery would be involved. I was scared of really damaging it, but didn't know what to do but keep going. I kept looking back, but never saw another runner behind me, for the rest of the way.

I finally hit the next water station and mile 2. It had taken me 24 minutes to do mile two. Dang...I could have cartwheeled it that fast. Unbelievable. I could have almost swum that distance faster (just not in this cold lake, of course). I realized I still wasn't even halfway done. I kept painfully moving forward.

At this point, I was away from the activity and noise of the race. There were people walking dogs, fishing, picnicking, etc. They all looked so peaceful and pain free. I wanted to go hang with them. At the far end of Puddingstone there were a lot of ducks and geese. Kind of cool. I did see a warning sign for mountain lions. Oh great. Now we have carnivorous predators to worry about? Of course...that would get me to run faster! :) I later saw a sign warning about rattlesnakes as well. Geez...are they all waiting in the brush to pick off the wounded triathlete? Jeez, this was freakin triathlon country safari! :)

I have blurry memories of this part of the route. Maybe from exhaustion, maybe from pain, who knows? I know I hit mile 3 on the backside somewhere and had gone faster than mile 2. I couldn't help but think that in a regular sprint tri, I'd be done running now. Oh well.

At this point I was out on Raging Waters Drive, where the bike ride had been. There were two different guys riding their bikes around the course, I guess to check for racers. They cheered me on each time, though one told me to "pick up the pace". I told him I was injured. I was in so much pain trying to hard to finish. I wasn't just being slow for the sake of being slow.

I ran across the dam and now could see that there was no one anywhere near me. Great. The only thing worse than DFL is DFL by a long shot. This sucks. At this point I noticed two things. The first is that it was closing in on 3 hours or racing. Damn. Catalina was only 2:45. The second is that I hadn't taken in any calories in a while. I usually take gels at regular intervals on the bike and run. However, my stomach felt sick and I was kind of burping up the flavor of them and stopped. So, three hours into this race, I realized that I needed calories and had to force myself to get a gel down, and I did.

I finally hit the four mile marker and had gone a slightly faster mile. It then cut in to a trail and uphill. Nice. As I was running past the swim start, I was getting close to the finish chute. Now I started to feel humiliated. I wanted to finish the race, but I SOOOOO didn't want to have to face everyone as the super slow 3 hour plus DFL lady.

I rounded the corner and saw my mom and kids. They started running toward me and cheering. I was tired. I was in pain. I was humiliated. I then ran by my husband. He smiled and said something encouraging. I was shaking my head as I went past him but didn't say anything for fear I’d lose it and start crying.

As I approached the finish chute, there were some volunteers cheering, although the athletes that weren't already home and relaxing, were at the awards ceremony that was already going on. The guy announcing made a comment about there being another person finishing and people cheered for me. I barely heard it. I hit the mat and just kept walking. I was glad to be done, but so discouraged. I didn’t even look back to my family…I just kept walking toward the transition area. I'd had my worst swim, my worst run, and my second to worst bike. I was also in pain and knew I did some damage to that foot. I also was really struggling to breathe well at this point. It was the first race where I didn't feel happy at the end.

I should have grabbed my inhaler. Honestly, with the plantar fasciatis, I shouldn't have even done this race. I need to get to a podiatrist and shouldn't have done another run until I had. That was stupid on my part. Other than that, I think I did the best I could, given the conditions.

I really didn't warm down. I just walked back to the transition area, if you can even call it that. All of the racks were gone except two...mine and one other. There was a bike hanging on the other rack, and I figured it was for someone at the award ceremony. I started drinking my Endurox, shoved everything into my bag, and walked my bike back to our car.

We got everything loaded into the car, and I realized I was still wearing my timing chip. My mom took it back for me and I heard the race announcer say that there were two more finishers coming across the mat. What??? There was someone else??? I wasn’t DFL??? I was shocked. It looked like a guy and a girl. If one was a girl, then her time will be slower than mine. We’ll see when the official results come out.

Right before we left, Hector (HCS5QA) came up and introduced himself. He was really sweet. I feel bad because I was so discouraged about my race, that I wasn't as talkative as usual. I'm glad I got to meet him, though. He even got a picture of me coming into the finish line that is at the bottom of my report. Thanks Hector! You rock!

We were supposed to all go out to lunch, but I didn't want to. I needed to eat, but didn't want to go sit in a restaurant and talk about the race. So, I said I just wanted to get home and rest.

Once we were in the car heading home, I almost lost it. But, once again I sucked it up and didn't cry. We got in the car. I had to take off my shoes because my feet were in so much pain I couldn't walk in them. I had to be barefoot. We drove home, got some Jack in the Box, and then I showered, took an ice bath, and felt like crap. My cold was now in full force, I had a migraine, my asthma got really bad, and every muscle on my body was aching more than they ever had. I don't want to say that I regretted this race, but I kind of did. I was glad it was over, but don’t want to deal with the pain of the next few days.


lack of training, particularly hill training and strength training, plantar fasciatis, asthma, sucking down dirt, and extremely cold water,

UPDATE - Okay, I just got the offical results of my race. I was 10/22 for the swim in my AG. That's farther back than usual, but still MOP. My last race was FOP which is where I want to be. My bike was last for AG, but not overall. My run was also last for age group, but not overall. So, there were two women slower than me and I wasn't DFL. Woo hoo!


Although I liked Bonelli Park and could see racing there again, I think it will be for Danskin or the Tri Express in the summer. I really think that late November is just too cold for an OW swim. The bike course is a nice challenge. I think that with a little more hill and strength training, I could master it. The run would actually be a fun course, if I was not injured. I'd like to give it a try on a better day.

As far as the organization of the race, I really don't think it was well done. I know that this is an inaugural event, but it was put on by a company that does other races. I felt that there was very little information given to us ahead of time, compared to other races I've done. I would have liked to have had a packet pick up, expo and course talk on Saturday. The morning packet pick up was late and disorganized. Also, there was never a course talk. No one told us where to swim until the 11th hour. No one warned us about the tricky parts of the course. I plan to return to Bonelli someday, but I don't plan to do the Turkey Tri again.

UPDATE - I have a new complaint about this race. In the results, there is no T1 and T2 time so they are presumably lumped in with our other times. I'm glad I had my Polar HRM to be accurate. Also, their splits show a slower time then I calculated and I realized that they based it on the 12 mile bike and 4 mile run that was advertised, not on the 14 mile bike and 4.7 mile run that we ended up doing. That sucks. Plus, there is no way the swim was only a half mile. That means that even the best swimmer in our AG went 2:15 per hundred. There's no way. I tend to go 1:42 per hundred on a good day and have never won my AG. Finally, they advertised the water as being 64 degrees. I strongly believe it was under 60 degrees. I have swam in 64 degree water and raced in 60 degree water and that water was neither!

So, we were lied to about potential water temperature and lied to about all three distances. I can't help but wonder if this was done to get sign ups for an inaugural event. Were they afraid that people wouldn't sign up for such a long, cold race, or could there really be that many oversights? Either way it is very frustrating!