I wasn’t sure this race was going to happen!  The radar sure made it seem like we were going to get hammered with some pretty severe storms.  While it was still raining and lightning when I left my house, I said what the heck…nothing ventured nothing gained!

By the time I got to the race venue, it was just cloudy with a light breeze.  Perfect weather for a race in AL – not 95+!  When I checked out the swim, it was looking a little choppy.  Last time I did a race in choppy water, it was pretty much a disaster.  There was also a ton of grass/seaweed gathered up by the swim exit, and the occasional branch and twig from the storms.  I did suck it up and swim a bit for my warm up; it was more than a little choppy!  However, there seemed to be a little bit of a rhythm to the waves, so I thought it might not be too bad.  (Determination and self talk go a long way!)

The swim was actually great – wave start which I haven’t done in a while, but everyone was careful and it wasn’t very crowded.  I crushed my planned swim time and didn’t panic at all with the waves (it was almost…dare I say it…FUN!) so I was very happy with that.  The bike was good as well – I decided to learn from my last race and not go all out and use up all my matches on the bike.  I kept an eye on my power and tried to meter out the effort appropriately.  This seemed to work fine – I was only passed by a few people which is a major improvement from last year’s races.  I felt good (mentally) starting the run, and made an effort to keep myself to a steady manageable pace for at least the first half.  It definitely took probably about two miles before my legs were in the game, but this was the first race where I’ve been able to keep running the entire time.  Even at aid stations!

Overall very happy with my performance, effort, and strategy.  Just for icing on the cake…I won my age group!  If I’ve read all the rules correctly, looks like I qualified for Nationals!!  It’s not official until I get the email though…so trying to keep it under control until then.  :0)