Ate Wendy's bowtie pasta and spinich dinner. Laid out all items needed the night before using list generated on racechecklist.com and then packed Tri Bag. Mixed Bottles and put in fridge. put bike rack on car and loaded bike (first time ever so it took a while to get right). Tried to sleep but slept poorly. Got up at 4am and had a cup of coffee, 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and a nutrigrain bar. Left at 5am in the driving rain. arrived at 5:40 in Denton, unloaded and went to check-in in the light rain. Being one of first 20 into transition allowed me to pick the rack site I wanted...right at the end. set up site: running shoes, hat and race number/belt in a gallon size zip lock to keep dry. oakleys with amber lenses in a sandwich zip lock to keep dry, Tri bag in back with dryclothes covered in trashbag. One Gu about 20 min before event started

light run thru transition to get idea on in and out spots. 100m warm-up in the pool at 10 min before start. then sat for 5 min and calmed my nerves

Immediately became a clusterF because some very slow swimmers started ahead of me. I almost immediately caught the person ahead of me. at some spots there were 3 people swimming breast stroke behind a slow swimmer. most of them were good at stopping at the wall to let faster ones go but some didn't. at one point I swam UNDER 3 slow people. not bad though. Opened up in the last 150 and I got in some good strokes. but I was GASSED at the end!

report a faster swim time at registration to get a better number. I totally guessed...about 6min...since at the time of registration I hadn't yet even started swim training.

walked for 50 yrds our of pool to catch breath. got shocked with the cold rain as I ran out the door. that got me running. got a little confused in T1..started going for running shoes. oops. helmet on and glasses on pretty quick after i got my head straight. Not much traffic in transition since I was out of pool pretty quick. Long run out of transition back infront of pool and out onto street to mount. no one else getting on bike at the same time. got up to speed pretty quickly. Had to really work to get feet into shoes and keep bike balanced due to the rain.

leave running shoes alone!! need to work on running mount still but do start with shoes already clipped in!!

Hammered on the way out with the tail winds. Averaged 25mph. Passed several riders and only got passed 2x. drizzle intermixed with hard rain through out the ride. drank too much Gu2O too fast in the beginning...got stomach ache. a good belch made that better though. one Gu at about 20 min into the ride. periodic sips between Gu20 and water.

prepare for dismount farther ahead of time...which means at least walking that portion of the course to know how fast it comes up.

did not do dismount at the end of the ride well at all...it came up too fast and I wasn't thinking about it like I should. distracted by the sudden left turn and the spectators. didn't get shoes velcro loosened in time to pull feet out and do running dismount. Had to unclip and almost fell over! Because I dismounted this way, I knocked one of the bottles out of the carrier behind the saddle and had to retrieve it. Started running in bike shoes then stopped, took them off and carried them...long run in to the transition.

Once in, I was fast. racked, helmet off but kept amber shades on due to the rain, slipped Vibram 5 Fingers on...relatively fast...grabbed visor and race number and Garmin 305 off bike (clipped it onto the wrist strap I was already wearing) and put stuff on as I ran out of T2.

again, prepare better for the dismount

left the 3rd GU behind. Didn't need it. ran in my Vibram 5 fingers. Felt really good. First mile I had to work hard not to go out too fast. HR was at Max and i was at a 6:50 pace...too fast for me. Once I hit the first hill, I worked on slowing the pace a bit and bringing heart rate down. glasses started fogging up as the rain let up so I took them off for most of the run. Finished strong for me but it was pretty obvious that I am a slow runner...got caught by several people that were far behind me on the bike. None the less, I kept up a high pace for me and pushed it pretty good.

Nothing really.

none to speak of. walked around inside the rec center a bit since the rain started to come down again. Ate pancakes and chatted with other finishers as we waited for the transition to open up so we could pack up and get out of the rain.

the rain. I was a bit cautious on the bike...but only a little.

Great race and really fun experience for my first time out...even with the constant rain. I really enjoyed talking with all the athletes before and after the race. Everyone is so supportive and happy to be racing!! One lady summed it all up for me as we were packing up after the race. When she discovered it was my first Tri and that I had really enjoyed it, she said "if you loved it in these conditions, you are so hooked!!"