Beach start: Here I am standing with my new age group: 45 to 50. and since there were not many people above 50 they opened the group to 45 and above. Looking at their calm faces, gray hair or no hair, and with a body fat percentage about the same as mine I felt a sense of comfort, similar to a feeling when I do a long ride with a drill and then going to the pool for a refreshing swim. That was priceless. We watched each wave to run to the water and jump as fast as they could. When my turn came up I decided to follow-up this new group so I took a deep breath, walked to the water and swam as easy as it can be. The first 1/3 of the swim I drafted, the second third I lost my new bud that I was drafting off and with that I also lost my navigation system. I swam away from the buoy; one of the guys in the canoes went for me to correct my path. Finally I turned the last buoy and swam to the beach, this time I had the wharf on my breathing side for guidance.
Official Time 1:15 minutes. I am thinking that my chip did not get activated in the mat at the beach and somehow a 1:15 was a good time for the officials to put in the paper. Four years ago in this same race I did 52 minutes. I think I have improved my swim since then.:)
My Time: 44 minutes
T1: 8 minutes. Run in the beach to the street, run across the street and after 2 blocks to T1.
BK: 2:59. Out and back highway 1 north. Water and food went as planned, headwinds were not strong and weather was cloudy. The ride was trouble-free and I was able to stick to the plan: easy in the hills, fast descending and trying to keep 19MPH. Sweet ride.
T2:Official Time 00. Proof of the chip malfunctioning
My Time 2:26. Before the run I stopped to stretch right leg.
RN: 1:47. My breathing was simple but my legs were rigid and it hurt at every stride. I wanted to stop more than once but I remembered that pain is part of what we do.