This was my third race and my husband's first. It was kind of nice to be doing it as a family affair. We took a trip up the weekend before to check out the race course and swim in the lake. This is the first race I've gotten to do that with. It was def good to know where the hills were and when I could go hard. We got to the site around 6ish, got marked up, and set up transition. Then we just wondered around checking out the scene. Thanks to Mat (nyfan21) I already knew there was going to be a good 1/4 mile of pavement between the beach and the transition area. So I brought my sandals down to the beach area. Was debating between shoes and sandals and finally decided on sandals. Tried to share this tip with my husband, but he choose not to follow the advice. Far too many people were complaining about the distance between the beach and the transition area. Geez people, suck it up!

The swim had six waves. I was in the fifth and hubby was in the second. I got a little bit braver this time and got in the back of the middle (instead of off to the side). I figured if I was going to beat my husband at this, I need to take advantage of the swim leg (which is def my strongest). Good times! Swim was pretty easy, although I nearly choked on some water that I swallowed at the wrong moment. Tried to just use my arms and not kick too much. I think I'm getting used to the idea that I'm not going to be able to see anything ahead of me.

Swim-1/2 mile 11:29

Decided to take my wet suit off at the beach and carry it to the transition area. My legs felt pretty wobbly.

T1: 5:52

I really enjoyed the bike leg. I guess all that hill work finally paid off, because this is def the hilliest course I've done so far. I felt really good, because practically everyone around me had to get off and walk up this one hill around mile 4. Actually it wasn't really one hill, it was more like a hill, then a bit of flat area and then another climb and it went on like that for a bit with no real break in between. I was breathing pretty hard, but still felt pretty good. Had fun flying down the long down hill part on the other side and the rolling hills on the way back in. Felt good to be passing people with nicer bikes and aero bars. Passed my hubby going out onto the run course as I was pulling into the transition area.

Bike-12 miles 45:06 I think this also included T2.

T2 was pretty quick, just dropped off my bike, took of the camel pack because it was already empty, took off bike helmet and was off. Waved to my kid and sister in law on the way out!

Was doing a fair amount of negative self talk during the first part of the run, but I just had to shut it out and focus on the things I'd worked on in training. ie: faster foot turnover and breathing. Was also spurred on by the fact that I wasn't too far behind my husband. We'd been doing some back and forth all week over who was going to beat who. Both the other run courses I've done have been fairly flat and this had a few hills, nothing as steep as what I've been doing in training...but still enough. As I was coming towards the finish line some guy behind me was joking around and telling me to pick it up 26 year old. So we had a nice sprint to the finish line.

Run- 3 miles 26:09 (8:43 min/mile pace) PR for me!! Last race I did about a 9:40 min/mile pace.

Total: 1:28:38

Hubby came in at 1:33:14, so I beat him by almost 5 minutes!
His Splits were:

s-16:10
t1-5:09
b/t2-46:22
r-25:32

We both had a great time and I think he's going to do the next one with me, if not one sooner. :)