It’s hard to know what to write about the race, because there were so many things that happened, and yet some things  were all the same.

For the swim, I started near the start of the women’s group, but it was a pretty small group of us so it didn’t matter too much. I didn’t get into the water before the start of the race. I had been too busy watching the previous race, and just ran out of time. So when the race started, the cold water was quite a shock!

I tried to just swim through it, but I couldn’t catch my breath, so eventually after a minute or two, I flipped on my back and did some back stroke. It was great to see the nice blue sky, and to be able to breath. I pulled myself together, flipped back over and started swimming. The swim course was 2 loops, essentially an out and back each loop. So the ‘long straightaways’ were only 300m,  by the first turn I had caught up to the slowest of the men group (who started 3 mins earlier).

The rest of the loop I just focused on swimming steadily, and trying not to go too far off course. It’s surprisingly easy to lose your way, when there is no line on the bottom of the lane
Finally, I reached the end! …. Of the first loop! Up on shore, around the timing mat, and back into the water for round 2. The sun was rising right where we swimming towards, which was lovely but made seeing the buoys a bit hard. I swam quite crookedly, and managed to run into shore

Finally, I rounded the last turn, and could see the end! 1 more minute and I was sprinting up the beach… Though by sprinting I really mean walking.  I was feeling quite wobbly. Up through transition, a brief fight with the wet suit to get it off, and I was off to start the bike! I made sure to get started carefully. The day before during my practice ride, I hadn’t been so careful, and fell over instead of riding. One skinned knee later, I was not going to make the same mistake during the race!

The bike course was nice and flat, not a lot of turns. It was hard to know how it was going, since I didn’t have a lot of experience with my bike, or my race watch. But it was fun, I felt like I was flying  except for all of the people passing me.. Eventually I saw the leaders come back around. I started counting, and Guido was 5th! The surprising part was that I was at mile 10 and he was at mile 14, I thought we were remarkably close together.

Around then, I noticed I had a little bee trailing behind me. I later learned that she was a little 14 year old who, in addition to wearing a black and yellow jersey, had done 50 sprint triathlons, and this would be her first Olympic distance. It was nice to have her drafting off of me, though totally illegal. But eh, the silent company was nice, and I had several conversations with her in my mind  We chatted for a bit at mile 20 or so, and she seemed nice and excited to be out racing.

Finally, the end of the bike, one more run through transition, a pair of run shoes, a hat, and some gels and I was ready for the 10k.  I saw the leaders right as I started, and I counted that Guido was in third! He was looking good, but too far away to catch the 2nd place guy  in the last tenths of a mile of the race.

It was only 9:45 am, but in the sunny desert of Palm Springs in December 2nd, it was hot. I was used to the cold and rain of Seattle, and quickly needed something to drink. I just kept chugging away at the run, and slowly passing people. The aid station was great, but 5 seconds later I was hot and thirsty again!  The turn around came surprisingly quickly, and not too long after I saw the little bubble bee just5 minutes behind.

I was smiling for the last mile, because I was feeling great. I kept slowly overtaking people which is super fun! I ran down the last little hill, and saw Guido cheering on the sidelines! I was smiling, and gave him a thumbs up. In the last 100 m a guy from behind tried to overtake me, but I sprinted to the finish and was done 😀

My official time was 2:54, which meant I placed 3rd in my age group! I got to go up during the awards ceremony, and get a plaque. Guido also got third, but a bigger plaque for third overall. So it was a great first Olympic distance race.