6th in my age group (of 28)

So there were 28 people in my age group (30-34) and I was 6th! WOW! I surprised myself. Looking at my time I ran almost an 8 in mile. Certainly didn't feel like I was going that fast when I was doing it. I feel great about how it turned out. I didn't even HATE the swim even though it was SUPER choppy / wavey and relatively cold. I think it was a great eye opener b/c I expected everyone to be just swimming... except me! Maybe if the water hadn't been so choppy????

We had quite a bit of drama to get to the race. We (Gena - my tnt mentor) and I headed down the night before and had to be at the race expo no later than 8pm. Well we pulled out of Madison just before 5pm for our 2 hour drive and hit BUMPER to BUMPER traffic for THREE hours!!!! So frustrating. Luckily Gena's friend Erin got to the expo and talked them into giving us our goody bags so that we could race. Just had to get the 'crucial items' in the a.m. :) So we got there finally.. Erin tried on her wetsuit and we chatted a bit. First obstacle tackled. Next morning we head out and hit road construction and have to improvise a bit.. FINALLY get to the start. Second obstacle tackled. Go to pump up my tires and I have hole in my tube. CRAP! Go to the mechanics tent, guy looks at my tire and says, "what kind of tire is this anyway?" (not a good sign.) he can't get it off. I offer him my tool. He gets the tire off, replaces the tube and goes to put the tire back on... can't do it. I give him my tool... he breaks it ... then loans me a new tire. Third obstacle tackled.

We get out to the beach too late to really get in the water b/c the first wave is starting. We sneak our feet in during the national anthem - it's not too bad. The water is really choppy and I'm nervous.... The swim went as I expected it would - some swimming freestyle, some breast stroke. I did mostly freestyle, but looking up to see bouies over waves was tough. I had a decent time.. though could use improvement. Oh, and running in a wet wetsuit half off is tough.

The most difficult part was getting my breath back after running in from the water, taking my wetsuit off and getting on my bike. There was a head wind on the bike so I wasn't spinning as fast as I would like on the way out, but was able to get in a groove on the way back and hold it around 20 to 22 miles per hour. I was worried that I wasn't saving it for the run, but it turned out great. My legs were tired as I got started, but felt better than they did at brick work outs... not surprising since our brick workouts are usually at least a 2 hour ride.

All said and done I would definitely do it again to improve on some things and see how I do. I'm definitely not feeling ready for the International distance after this race.. good thing I have another month to go!

Here we are post race. (erin has the 'wetsuit' photo on her camera)