The course begins with a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz to the Aquatic park, where you drop your wetsuit off and grab your shoes and make the 2.5 mile dash to your bike. The bike starts with an almost immediate and pretty steep climb to where you'll be doing your loops. 3 loops and 13 miles later you return to transition and head out on the 6 mile run. And what a run it is! Not unlike the bike course, the run begins with an abrupt and steep run up the side of a mountain (stairs). It wanders up and down a bit and then dumps you back down on baker beach, where the turn around is. The beach was a mixture of firm (wet) sand, smooth stones (think river rock) and thick as molasses dry sand. After the 3/4 mile? run on the beach you hit the sand ladder, which was definitely memorable. It was bad, but not horrendous. At the top you end up back on the narrow trail (part of the bike course) and repeat the run in the opposite direction. The old WWII ruins, the coastline, the view--all spectacular. And even though the course was pretty tough I still managed a far faster pace than I anticipated.

The finish line came pretty abruptly (this was the shortest race I've done in over a year, so I paced myself a bit too much and ended up thinking, "that's it? I want more!"

With a couple of exceptions, this was the best race 'experience' I had.

If you're ever planning to do this race, here are things to watch out for:
1) Be first off the boat unless you want the race to start without you.
2) Scope out parking the day BEFORE. A lot of people parked in one hour zones--or worse--bus loading zones. The signs were small and at 5:30 am, all parking looks choice. (Sunday Meters are enforced in this part of the city.)
3) Envirosports selects a particular day when currents are mild, so you don't need to point left as much as some people will say. Swim directly toward the two 'twin' buildings (aquatic park), and be prepared to adjust left while you battle some weird currents as you get to the aquatic park 'entrance' (roughly ~7 min. out? at a 2 min/100m pace.)
4) Be prepared to announce yourself as loudly as humanely possible during the bike course--and be prepared for 9/10 people to be deaf. This is a 3 loop course, so you'll be passing people (or will be passed) with massive speed differentials. I saw some scary things...people slamming on their brakes when they didn't have to slow for a turn, people passing on the right, a group of friends riding four abreast, and people swerving all over the place without regard for passing cyclists. (The swim is NOT the most dangerous part of this course!)
5) Transitions. Don't leave your running shoes (or your race number) with your bike. I saw one poor woman running barefoot with sandy feet....ouch...because she mistakenly put her shoes next to her bike the day before. Drop your shoes in the morning at Aquatic park along with a bag marked with your number/name (for your wetsuit). They'll bring your bag to the finish line for you. Racking your bike: you come in through the main bay and exit through the main bay, so put your bike as close as possible to there. A volunteer told me we run in through the side and out through the bay, so I racked my bike close to the "in" which turned out to be the worst possible spot.
6) Look around during the race--there were no parts that weren't spectacular. Can't wait for next year!