Beach2Battleship

Beach2Battleship on October 29, 2011 was my first iron distance triathlon.  An iron distance event is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run for a total of 140.6 miles.  Athletes typically have 16-17 hours to complete the event, depending on the race director. 

  

Before the race 

We drove to Wilmington from the Raleigh area on Thursday morning after dropping off Emma with the pet sitter. We got to the UNC-W area by about noon and stopped to get some lunch. Then we headed to Greenfield Park for a little course recon. I remember that that I felt like I was in the park forever during the half last year and I wanted to walk the park section to get some landmarks in mind. Also, I wanted to take a good look at the trail since I would be running at least one section of it in the dark. All of the sections along the road were in very good shape as were the bridges. During the race I'd need to pay closer attention to the few sections that went away from the road.

After the park, we headed to the Hilton to park, check in and walk two blocks to packet pickup on Thursday. On Thursday night went to Fish Bites for a steamer and then I put gear into various bags (a project unto itself!).

We met Ron and Alex for a short swim on Friday morning -- the last 800m or so of the course from channel marker 16 to the finish. This was a good refresher to sight on channel marker 19 and then on the SeaMist.

After the swim, we visited with Ron, went back to the hotel, had a late breakfast and headed over to the athlete's meeting. Then checked out the layout at the Battleship/T2 area and headed back to Wrightsville for bag/bike drop off (I kept my T1 bag as well as my morning/after bag). Then we went to the swim start for a viewing.

We relaxed for a few hours on Friday afternoon and had an early-ish dinner at Mellow Mushroom before going back to the hotel to watch the Carolina Hurricanes game.


Race morning

On Saturday morning, I got up at 4:20, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of CamelBak Elixir. Caught the bus to T1 at 5:00 am.

I uncovered my bike (had drive train covered due to forecasted light rain), filled my aero bottle and put on a disposable sportscap water bottle (both with CamelBak Elixir), loaded my Bento box and mounted my Garmin. Then I went to body marking, dropped off my T1 bag and got on the bus to swim start.

The Swim

After all of the athletes arrived at the swim start area, we made our way onto the beach for the start.  The announcer said that the Coast Guard had given the OK to start in three minutes.  He started to count down.  We had a mass start -- 750 athletes entering the water at the same time --  to Eminmens "Lose Yourself."

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

The swim was great! I started about 2/3 of the way back on the left just as I planned. I swam more or less straight out and the current pushed me around the start buoy as expected. The swim was more congested than I expected which is good because it meant I was swimming faster and was with people! Woo hoo! About a 1/3 of the way into the swim I was kicked in the right goggle. Goggles stayed in place so all was well. My zipper pull was looped when I started and became dislodged at the start. The long tail thing annoyed me the entire way. Towards the end of the swim, I realized that my neck was getting a wetsuit hicky. At that point, I just wanted to get out of the wetsuit. Thankfully, the docks were in sight. Channel marker 19. SeaPath. Go for the first ladder. Careful, don't fall. Wetsuit strippers. Shower. Mylar "cape." Carefully make my way 300-400m to T1.

I did a good job with Body Glide/Aquaphor on the underarms and heart rate monitor areas but I totally missed the back of my neck which is what caused the chafing on my neck.

I wore a sports bra and tri shorts under my wetsuit for the swim. They had wetsuit strippers and I used them.  The wetsuit strippers pull the neoprene wetsuit off of you which is much faster than doing that yourself.  I changed to dry tri shorts and added a bike jersey, arm warmers and vest for the bike. Of course socks, headsweats, gloves and helmet. Port-a-john stop and then on to the bike. 

The bike

Last year I did the half iron distance event here and I wrote, "The bike was good. I loved riding on 140. It was FAST!" This year someone wrote, "I-140 will forever be known as the highway of death, cold, and misery." What a difference a year makes!

I did more or less the same thing as for the half last year. One bottle of fluids done before the first aid station, refill with bottle from cage, drop empty at aid station and get a replacement bottle.

I stuck to my nutrition plan pretty well. After I was on the bike for a few miles and had settled in, I had a Fig Newton. Then at the one hour mark and the two hour mark I had a Clif bar. At about 2:45 into the bike I decided I wanted a Honey Stinger Waffle. Then at 3:30 and 4:30 I had a Clif bar. After this, I got worried about the waffle and the calories on the bike and stopping solid food with one hour left in the bike, etc. This was a little bit silly on several counts (I routinely have fig newtons and honey stinger waffles before running being the main one) -- but my original plan had been for five Clifs on the bike. Then I did the triathlon math and realized that 200+100 > 240 so I'd be fine having a Fig Newton with on hour left and a Hammer Gel just before the last aid station (so I could dump the sticky wrapper). That puts me right at 1600 calories on the bike. I had about 4.5 bottles of water (about 90 ounces) plus two bottles before the race started.

One thing that I did was use a label maker to make a label that listed the mile markers of each aid station. I stuck that on my aerodrink bottle for easy reference.  This came in handy.

Regarding the actual riding, 140 was the worst with gusty winds and nothing to break them. 421 was better but still bad. After getting on Blueberry Road at least we had trees to break things up a bit. For a while on 210 my hands were really cold but that cleared up after 20-30 minutes which is handy because it's really hard to open wrappers when your fingers are still. I had on fingerless gloves because have no hope of opening wrappers (even pre snipped ones) with full finger gloves. The main thing on the bike was that I was just trying to get to mile 70 (well, 73). I kept on telling myself get to 70. I knew I'd have a tailwind after getting back on 421. The only time that I stopped was at mile 73. I had to pee and I was unable to completely void my bladder without stopping.

As expected, the final 40 miles was fast! 15+ mph tailwinds will do that for you!

My meteorologist friend Ron said, "winds were 12-18 mph with gusts to at least 23 mph for the morning, but peaked at 25 mph sustained, with 33 mph gusts around 2pm. There was a slight lull in the wind from 11am-1pm when most half-ers were on their way back, but the strongest winds were after that, when full athletes were coming back."

Forgot about the dismount line! Thankfully the volunteer there ordered me to stop and I made it!


The run

Took off arm warmers and vest, swapped CBC cycling jersey for CBC tri top, changed from Smartwool cycling socks to Balegra running socks and cycling shoes for running shoes. Added my running hat, hit the port-o-johns and I was off!

In the months leading up to the race, I knew what to do on the run but this did not solidify for me until I read http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/run/the-ironman-runwalk/. I knew that I needed to walk the aid stations because that's the only way I can get fluid in without carrying it. For me, dixie cup + running = spillage. Very little actually makes it down untils I walk a few stops to drink. This article really helped because it laid out some rules that I could live by: (1) Run through the aid station to the last water, gel, coke, sportsdrink guy/gal, whatever your needs are for that aid station and (2) Giving yourself permission to walk the aid stations, beginning with Mile 1, becomes a reward for continuing to run between the aid stations. The mental conversation becomes “Body, STFU. Keep running, don’t slow down, and I will reward you for that effort over the next mile by letting you walk 30 steps at the next aid station. That’s the deal and we only have to play this game for another 6-8 miles. Suck it up.”

That is what I did with a few exceptions. On the second loop, I walked up the hill on Ann Street. I had pretzels about three times and I found that while they settled my stomach, I could not run and eat pretzels at the same time. Finally, on the second loop, I got broth at the final aid station. The cup was full and it took more that 30 steps to drink it. I was partway up the big bridge. I had been thinking about walking the big bridge on the final lap and I decided to go ahead and walk the rest of the way up.

I started the run at 3:07 pm according to my Garmin. This is important because it means that if I did a five hour marathon, I'd finish after 8pm and sunset was at 6:15. Some was someone sunny -- especially compared to that morning when it was overcast and misting/raining. I wore my tri top and sunglasses. I was comfortable for the first bit but by mile 10 or so, I the cold wind was starting to make me feel chilly. I ended up counting down, 3 miles until I get my long sleeve tee, 2 miles until I get mu long sleeved tee. Needless to say, I really wanted that shirt! At run special needs I pulled on the long sleeved tee, and gave my sunglasses to the volunteer to put into my run special needs bag. I hit the port-o-john *again* (I was well hydrated!) and was back on course just like that.

Overall, I was happy with my run. Before the race, the run was my biggest concern -- the biggest variable for me. I was hoping for a 5 hour marathon but that was based simply on the "open marathon time plus 30 minutes" formula.

I was very pleased to finish Beach2Battleship in 12:42:09, finishing first in my age group.

Post race

Find husband! Get Crocs. Pizza, two slices of pepperoni please! I started to get cold shortly after eating the pizza, I started to get pretty cold. There as a band and some other activity but I was chilly and I really wanted a shower so we headed out to the shuttle bus area and went back to the hotel. Kevin went to Front Street Brewery and got take out for me and we watched the end of the Carolina Hurricanes game. I called my mom and my coach while Kevin was getting food.

I really enjoyed this event and I will be back. Other events have a lot of work to keep up with this one!

Gator Half

DH and I drove to Florida last Friday. When I was packing up all of my gear for the Gator Half, I started to  wonder how the heck I'll get my cr*p to Vineman next year.  We left very early and made it to Sarasota in time for packet pickup on Friday evening. I also did a short ride to keep loose after the 12 hour drive and to make sure that the bike was fine. Then we proceeded to my in-laws' place in Englewood.

On Saturday morning, DH, his dad and I drove to the race site. We timed the drive from Englewood and made sure we were clear on where everything was. We talked to a triathlete doing a pre-race swim and checked out both the bike and run course. We also scoped out Sherpa Eating Locales so the guys had something do to while I was on the bike. On Saturday afternoon, I had a short swim at the in-laws' place and on Saturday evening we went for pizza (Mama's Italian Restaurant in Englewood), my traditional pre-race meal.

On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:50, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of Camelbak Elixir. We headed out to Ackerman Park in Sarasota for the race start and arrived at about 6 am.  That allowed time for timing chip pick up, body marking, transition set up, pre-race meeting...

There was an interesting collection of people at this event. I talked to someone who did Ironman Arizona last year and is doing Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Florida this year (and he did the world duathlon championships in Edinburgh last year as well). I saw people with Clearwater 70.3 national championship gear on. I also talked to several people for whom this was their first half iron distance event or first Olympic distance triathlon.

The swim

The first 200 meters or so was rough for me. I started to feel like I was going to choke. I was breathing to the right which is generally my faster side. I switched to the other side and got more comfortable. I made the first turn and and decided to try breathing to the right again. Apparently, I do not swim straight when breathing to the right. Fortunately my spot forwards were good and I was able to make a correction before I got too far off line.

DH said that the safety kayakers had to go and get some people who were way way off course in the middle of the lake.  Whoops!

I continued around, breathing to the left (figuring that it was best to stay on course!) and made the next two turns. Then I was heading to where we started and the sun was higher. I could not see the buoy at all. I could see the picnic table there and headed toward that. Good plan. I finally saw the buoy when I was right on top of it. It was one of the giganto buoys too!

The second lap proceeded pretty much the same way, except my goggles started to leak. I specifically chose to use my older goggles because they've never leaked (instead of the new goggles that I'm still getting adjusted)! Again, it was disconcerting to swim into the sun and not be able to see. After passing the start area for the second time, I continued a little further to reach the swim exit.

The bike

Fun course! Scenic, flat, few turns, mostly very good road surfaces as compared to North Carolina roads.

I had a some fig newtons almost as soon as I got onto the bike. The bike has been pre loaded with my nutrition so I ate when planned and drank frequently.  I picked up a plain water at the first bottle exchange near mile 20. I tried to pick up a second plain water at the second bottle exchange. I said water but got Heed. Probably my fault. It was warmer weather than I have been training in. I went ahead and had the Heed rather than get dehydrated. It was fine. I ate more than I did at Beach2Battlehsip but I was in better shape afterward than I was at the B2B HIM.  By the end of the bike it was starting to get hot.

The run

When I previewed the course on Saturday, I thought to myself, well, the bike is scenic. The course was through an office park and around a lake/retention pond. That makes some amount of sense since there would be pretty much no traffic on a Sunday. As it turned out, I really liked the course. There was a tiny bit of shade through the office park and there was a breeze around the pond. There were enough water stations to keep cool and it was nice that we did two loops because we went by DH twice.

First lap of the run.

I had a Hammer Gel just before the mile 1 water station and then again at about mile 5 and mile 10 (always just before water stations). I had at least one dixie cup of water at each water station and often two cups (volunteers started to hand out water two cups at at time). I ran the whole course -- except walking water stations to drink rather than spill. I did get progressively slower during the run but overall I am happy with how I did.  When I got to the car, the temp said 88 degrees.

After the half ironman, with medal and gator jambalaya in hand

I enjoyed this event and I'd certainly consider coming back and doing it again another time.

Gator Done medal and 4th place plaque

Beach2Battleship half iron distance triathlon

DH and I arrived in Wilmington just before lunch on Friday so we stopped for lunch at McAllister's and went to pick up my packet at the convention center. There was no line for packet pickup.  I enjoyed the Expo and attended the briefing before heading to check out T2 at the Battleship North Carolina and then drop off my bike at T1 in Wrightsville Beach.  Then we stopped for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and had an early night involving me going through all of my bags again.

I got up at 5:30 on race morning and had a bagel with peanut butter and a banana along with a water bottle of Camelbak Elixir. Then I headed downstairs for the bus to Wrightsville Beach. We stayed at the Hilton and that is really the place to stay for this event. The bus went from the hotel to Wrightsville Beach for the start and from the Battleship to the hotel at the end. The sea taxis also went from the Battleship to the hotel. It was a very convenient location.

The bags - All half participants had three bags for their gear. One bag was for before/after items. You know, the things that you want at the start of the swim but don't need again until after you cross this finish line. I had sweat pants that I wore before, a long-sleeved T for after and a sweatshirt for before, Crocs and wetsuit and other swim stuff. The next bag was T1 so bike shoes, bike gear like gloves, helmet, sunglasses, socks. The final bag was for T2 (not the same location as T1) and it had running gear including shoes, number belt, hat and socks. All of the bags went on the bus with me. (Next time, they will be pre-deployed. I'll double bag them if I am worried they will get wet from dew.)

After the bus ride I dropped off my T2 bag and went to T1 to set that up. The bikes were all checked in on Friday night so it was more of a preload the Bento box, pump tires, make a final decision on what to wear (I went with tri shorts and tri top that I wore under my wetsuit and added arm warmers and a 2 gallon zip lock bag under my shirt as a temporary vest.)  I met up with Sherry and Scott from BT and I saw Jerry and Fred from CSH. Once that was all set, I took the shuttled to the swim start.

Once I was at the swim start I watched some of the full participants swim by (the full started at 7:00, the first wave of the half started at 8:30). I went to the parking lot across the street from the start where it was sunny and sat Lisa, John, Stan and Jerry C. We visited. I had a Lara bar while I was waiting. It was actually relaxing -- until the announcer started and then everyone kind of started to freak out. The water was advertised at "mid-60s." When my wave was called, I got into the water -- totally submerged myself when I got in. And it BEGINS.

For me, the swim was uneventful.  I thought 45 minutes on the swim was reasonable so going a minute faster was fine with me!  T1 was slow partly due to cold hands and feet and the run over.  I should have used the wet suit strippers.  All were busy so I continued.  I should have waited 10 seconds and used them though.   I had some minor issues with cold hurting feet on the run to T1.  The way the swim worked, you get out of the channel by climbing ladders and then un down a dock and then run about 400 yards to T1. The sidewalks were OK to run on but I did not like running on the blacktop one bit.

After much debate over several weeks and frequently checking the weather forecast,  (actual weather data: 52 when I got on the bike, 67 when I got off the bike, hit 70 during the run)  I wore arm warmers and put a 2 gallon zip lock bag under my tri top for the bike.  Also wore bike gloves and mtb socks.  My feet felt funny when I clipped in  -- like there was something in my shoe besides my foot and sock -- but I continued.  It turned out they were just cold.

Great Bike! Exceeded my expectations!

The bike was good. I loved riding on 140. It was FAST! Just after we got off 140, we had the first water station.  My plan was to drink one bottle of Camelbak Elixir before the first water stop.  Dump the empty, move bottle #2 forward and grab a water.  I figured if the bottle grab didn't go well, I had another chance this way.  Got the bottle with no problem.  I was able to execute this plan with no problem.  Shortly after the first aid station I took the baggie-vest out and put that in my pocket to drop off at the next water station. (You are not allowed to litter, the rules call it abandoned equipment.  You can, however, get rid of trash, etc. at aid stations.)

After getting off 140, we took 421 north and jogged over to Blueberry Road where we continued north. We had some headwind on the 421/Blueberry section. Then a turn onto another road for a short while before the turnaround. Ah, a little tailwind! Oh, and that was a false flat heading UP so things are GOOD!

On the way back on Blueberry Road I saw a cyclist down and then I saw an ambulance. I hope the rider is OK.

Overall, I was pleased with the bike segment.

When I got to T2, I remember to removed Garmin, handed bike to volunteer and headed to my gear/rack space. Shoe/sock change, hat on, kept the sunglasses. Where are the portapots? Oh, there is a line. Run to Run Out and GO!

I felt great coming off the bike. There was a line for port-a-pots in transition so ran to first aid station and went there (in other words, run time includes potty break). Ran well for the first bit and faded.  There was a lot of crowd support downtown! It was great!

The run course started off with crossing a Big Bridge, cross a little bridge -- the Northeast Cape Fear River Bridge which is relatively flat, run along the Wilmington waterfront and then head up a hill to Front Street to Greenfield Park. Turnaround and head back.

Just after we got to mile three I was thinking, "Almost a quarter of the way done! Woo hoo!" Then a spectator said, "They have 10 miles to go."

I thought we would never get around the park. We got on the path and kept going and going and going. I had a Hammer gel just before the turnaround. I saw Stan, Lisa and Fred before the turnaround and then spotted John and Jerry after the turn around. Seeing my friends was really nice.

I got water at most but not all water stops. My stomach started to rebel with 3-4 miles to go on the run. 

The run heading back to downtown seemed faster.   I got over the little bridge OK. Then I saw the Big Bridge. Oh my! When I saw that last bridge I wanted my mommy. OK, not really. It just looked very intimidating to me and I kept on thinking that I wanted to run the whole thing so I kept on trucking.

The finish chute was great! I heard the announcer call my name. As soon as I got across the line and they took my chip, I got my medal. It is really cool. Maybe even better than my Donald Duck!

Stan and Lisa were there and I talked to them a little bit. DH was there and that felt great! He got some nice pictures too :-)

I loved this event and I'll be back!

Beach2Battleship half iron distance (before)

Day of event splits are being updated by the event organizers approximately every 30 minutes. I'm number 775.

Results

Wilmington YMCA Sprint photos

Sign from Two Wheeler Dealer, a local bike shop in
Wilmington that hosted packet pickup

Photo of the swim course. I took this picture from
Sea Path, the swim finish. The swim started at
Blockade Runner. Note the arrow pointing to the start.

My awesome support team!

Catching up -- way past due

Janyne before the start at
Lake Logan

I know that I've been slack in posting here. I've been busy but nothing seemed interesting enough to report here. I completed my second triathlon in August -- Lake Logan International. That one took place in western North Carolina.

The course was fun and I'd go it again. In September I road in Bike MS for the sixth time.

Also in September I completed my third triathlon -- Wilmington YMCA Sprint. That one was really fun! I had a blast! I really wanted to do the event because the swim is similar to the one that I'll be doing for B2B. There were 1500 people registered for the event -- huge compared to my first two triathlons that had 200-250 athletes each. We went down on Friday afternoon and I went to packet pickup at Two Wheeler Dealer. There was one person in line in front of me so check in was super easy. Then we headed over to Wrightsville and checked out the site a bit and then checked into the hotel. We dropped off the dogs and went to the pre-race meeting. I'd guess 50+ people were at the meeting. Then we walked over to Sea Path which was the swim finish and checked that out along with the 300m run to transition. I found my rack in transition and we went to dinner (pre race pizza!). So, the check in process and pre-race day logistics were simple.

Janyne with teammate
David L. before the start of Bike MS

On Saturday, the usual get up at 5:00. I ate while DH took care of the dogs. We got to the site at 5:30. Parked, set up transition, talk, potty, talk, shuttle bus to swim start at 6:30. Hang out at Blockade Runner (the swim started on the Blockade Runner water access), watch first waves of athletes start their swim (waves started at 7:00), talk to people about siting and current. My wave went at 7:55. The bike course was congested and there were no passing zones over the draw bridge. That was the only on course issue. After the race, I had a hard time finding my parents and keeping Kevin, the Girls and my parents under control :-)

The race was good, well run, etc. I would definitely go back. This was the first triathlon that I felt like a triathlete. I hope that makes sense. The others went well enough but I guess I wasn't really in my comfort zone or whatever. I was more nervous excited that nervous what have I got myself into.

Since then, I have mostly been busy training for Beach2Battleship where I am will be doing my first half iron distance triathlon -- 1.2 mile swim, then 56 mile bike and finally a half marathon run. I've been working to improve my swimming and trying to keep the other pieces together as well and diligently logging my workouts.

My first tri - Beaverdam Olympic distance triathlon

My first ever triathlon was on Saturday and I think that it went pretty well for a first effort.

Leading up to the race, I was very nervous about the swim portion, both because I am new to swimming and because it was an open water swim in the spring. There was a lot of obsession about the water temperature. When I first started thinking about trying an open water swim, the water temperature was in the 40s. I read a lot of concerns about last year's event -- water cold, neoprene swim cap needed, etc. Since our winter was particularly cold this year, I was afraid that the water wouldn't warm up in time. Fortunately, we had a string of warm days and that got the water temperature to a comfortable wetsuit temperature in time.

The week leading up to the Inside-Out Sports Olympic Triathlon at Beaverdam, I was nervous and excited. I kept on telling myself, "You can do this!" Then I comforted myself by saying, "It'll all be over next Sunday." People told me my training was solid and I tried to believe in it.

As the name of the event indicates, this was an Olympic distance event. Olympic distance is 1500 meter swim, 40k (24.8 mile) bike ride and 10k (6.2 mile) run. This event was actual a 1 mile (1609.3 meter) swim, 26.2 mile bike and 10k run.

I must have been excited, I went to early packet pick up on Thursday and packed my transition bag immediately. Thursday might have been a tad early to pack for a Saturday event!

Race number, white swim cap, race t-shirt

On Saturday morning, I got up early to arrive at the Beaverdam Recreation Area at Falls Lake before the recommended 6:45 am arrival time. I set up, brought my bike and transition bag to the transition area, and set up my gear. Then I got my body marking done and my timing chip. My body marking was mostly off before we even got into the water. I'm not sure what was up with that. They put your race number on your arms and they put your race age on your calf. After that, a group of us gathered near the beach to watch the buoys for the swim course be placed. Just over 200 people registered for the event.

Transition area: bike gear on the right and running gear on the left.

Just before the transition area closed, I got my wetsuit. There was a brief pre-race meeting then and most people got into the water to acclimate. I did a little swimming, tested my goggles, made sure that my goggle straps were secure under my swim cap so that they didn't get knocked loose, etc.

The swim start was in waves. The blue wave, made up of younger guys, went first. Three minutes later, the yellow wave of older guys went and three minutes after the yellow caps, the white wave of women and remaining men went. My swim went as expected, which is to say, not quickly. I was pretty comfortable in the water and I felt that my sighting went pretty well. I was back of the pack but I knew that I would be and I was surprised to see at least one yellow cap in my group. I did bump with someone between the first and second buoy when one of us got off course and I passed someone near the end of the one mile swim. When other swimmers saw the inflatable "burning man" marking the end, they started to sprint. I have one swim speed so I just kept on going and concentrated on passing them in the transition area.

See the orange buoy on the right? That was the first one on the swim course. The flags in the foreground indicate the exit from the swim and route to T1.

As I exited the water, I got the wetsuit pulled down to my hips and then I scampered over the timing mat to the transition area as quickly as possible.

T1 went well. I could probably have pulled the bottom of the wetsuit off a little bit faster and I should have shoved my food into my pockets or left more in the bento box and not had anything in transition but overall, the transition was respectable.

I ran to the mount, dismount line, got on my bike and I was off! About 10 minutes into the ride I noticed my bike was noisy and realized that my cadence sensor was rubbing so I unclipped my foot and kicked it to stop the rubbing. That seemed to do the trick. (Note to self, check for rubbing when unloading bike from car.) When I previewed the bike course a few weeks before the race, I noticed that it was a bit hilly -- about 600 climbing feet over the 26 mile route. I passed several people on the bike and had a solid middle of the pack finish in that segment. I was not happy to see the speed bumps that I had conveniently forgotten about on the way to transition area and I was a little bit intimidated to see people already on the run course.

T2 went well. Just rack the bike, swap bike helmet for running hat, change shoes and off to the run.

The run went pretty well. I felt like I was running very slowly. If someone asked me how fast I was running I would have underestimated my pace. The course was entirely within the park. It was out and back and out and back. I found this difficult to race because when you passed someone going the other way you did not know if they were on lap 1 or lap 2 (ahead of you or behind you). There was a water stop .1 from the transition area and then at the turn around and then the one near the transition area had a 5k timing mat that runners crossed the second time by, then back to the turn around and then to the finish. The course is relatively hilly. There was good camaraderie on the run. There was good camaraderie the bike too but especially on the run.


I talked to several people on the run. I was with one woman for the second half of the run. After we made the final turnaround for the finish line, I said something like, "We've got this one!" to her. We chatted a bit and someone we had passed earlier, a young guy with a shirt that said "Just Run" on the front and XC on the back, decided to sprint past us with a hundred yards to go. He had a 21 on his left calf where they put your competition age. I guess he didn't want to finish with the middle age women.

The finish area, another competitor approaching the finish line.

There was a DJ that played during the event and that made the finish seem a bit festive. I stayed for the awards and saw that someone that I ride with from time to time won my age group and that someone that I know from the gym placed in her age group.