Pin it on for your first. You will probably have trouble getting the shirt on after the swim without ripping the number unless you wait to pin it on until after which will give you a slow transition. BUT none of this matters for your first, go out and enjoy it before spending all sorts of money on efficiency items. Grant it, they are cheap...but still. I did my first 9-10 before investing in a number belt (probably should have sooner, but I definately didn't NEED one)

take sunscreen too,or you'll be sorry the next day

You might try biking and running in different shirts - and having the number pinned to your running shirt. For me this saved riding with my number flapping about, and it was nice to have a fresh shirt for the run.

Does anyone know if races typically require you to wear your number for the bike portion? In the race I did - part of a larger series - you only had to wear the number for the run.

In either case, to get a shirt or socks on over your wet body (whether after the swim or the bike) just roll up the ends including the number if attached and leave them ready in the transition area. When the time comes you'll be able to get your head or toes into the proper hole/place and then unroll your shirt/sock over the rest of your body/feet.

You can also take a shoelace -- hopefully not from the shoes you plan to run in :p -- and just have your number on that and tie it around your waist.

Depends on the race. Many I have done required it for the bike and the run.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone.

I plan on swimming with my regular ol’ swimtrunks, but as someone mentioned, I did plan on wearing some Under Armor type shorts under the trunks. After the swim, I was just going to take off my trunks and put my running shorts over the Under Armors. Yep, that’s right, no cycling/tri shorts – I’m a 42 year old man who is not very good at this. I want to keep it simple. I will probably just pin the racing number on my shirt as I have no idea where to get a number belt.

I will bike in my running sneakers and I hate to dissapoint some of you, I don’t have any thing on my bike pedals.

Perhaps if I enjoy myself and want to do another triathlon, I will invest in trishorts, etc…

As I said earlier that I’m not very good. I’m not overweight in the least and I guess I could pass for someone who works out, but as an ex-smoker for the past 6 years, I’ve kind of did a little working out here and there, but never really committed myself to something like this. On a good day, like the other day, I ran 5 miles for an average of 7:30 per mile. But that is just running. It takes me about 50 minutes to ride 14.5 miles. And let’s not even talk about swimming. I want to show myself that I can do this.

I keep joking to my wife, that I’m so far away from what others will be wearing and riding and that I’m closer to being like the guy that shows up wearing scuba goggles for the swim, a 1980’s 10-speed for bike, and baggy gym shorts for the bike and run.

Hey, but I will finish the darned thing!

When you pin it on your shirt make sure to pin on one side of the shirt and not through it. We did have a few girls do the bike portion in Hawaii in bikinis.. If I recall, they slipped on shorts over the bikini for the run!

Remember to have fun and Good Luck.

Yeah...only if I can survive the swim. :-)

My goal is to complete this, but I want to complete it in less than 1:45.

Thanks for all the inspiration; particularly from your profiles and the experiences/races that you have all competed in.

Sounds like you'll definitely beat 1:45 with the run time. My best is the swim...but, that's also the least amount of time out of all of the events. :( So, I get passed a lot on the run. You'll be one of those. I'm sure you'll do great!

or the expo but save it for the next race. Nothing new on race day!

I like to wear old flip-flops to the event, then I just kick them off somewhere convenient at the last minute. Also, put talc in your socks (I generally do that the night before) to make it easier to get your socks on when your feet are wet.
Swim cap? A watch?

I did my first tri last year, and i'll share some of my findings.

I picked a HIM because i just wanted to jump right into it. I had a road bike, running shoes, running shorts, track jersey a water bottle, and a helmet.

At the expo before the race i bought tri shorts (bad idea, but it ended up working out for me) and they gave me a second water bottle. I used gels race day, and never had before, again it worked for me, but i wish i had tried it ahead of time and had a nutrition plan, i raced fine, but threw up bile after the race because i had only taken in around 1000 calories over 5.5 hours.

Doing the same race this year i have upgraded a lot of stuff, if you had to only get a few things i'd suggest buying some sort of nutrition, tri shorts, or toe cages. The biggest time savers/$ spent (from what i remember) are those laces you put into running shoes so you don't have to tie them.

i feel like i had some point to all of this, i can't remember it though, maybe i'll remember later? if you have any other questions i'd be happy to share my interesting first tri/HIM experience further, but all in all i am happy my first tri was a HIM, i learned a lot from it.

FWIW, I just used the strap from my old camera case as my race belt. I set it to the right size beforehand, and just wore it on my waist. I probably have larger hips than most triathletes, but it stayed in place really well, and it worked like a champ. I'll be wearing it for my next race.

And, btw, I only wore it for the run.