If only I could swim faster...

On June 7, I competed in the Anchorman Sprint triathlon which consisted of a 3/4 mile ocean swim, 9 mile hilly bike, and a 4 mile trail/road/sand ladder run. There were only roughly 150 participants of which about 80+ were men. This is really one of those races where I wish I could swim faster. The swim wasn't as well organized as you would hope which resulted in some people missing the last buoy and reaching land before they were supposed to. It seemed like everytime I breathed on my right side I saw somebody running on the beach prematurely. Instead of cutting a line straight for the beach, I decided to make my way around the third buoy which seemed to take an eternity. I don't think my swim time would have improved much but that could partially be why I ended up around 66th out of 80+ dudes. Once hitting land, we had a long 1 mile transition run in which I probably passed 15-20 people. Some people chose not to have shoes waiting for them and paid for it as the gravel was not feet friendly. The 9 mile bike is literally over a hill and back twice. I knew the course well and had been doing quite a few hill repeats in the weeks leading up. I passed a lot of ppl which made me feel good and also seeing so many familiar faces during the ride as it was 2 loops was encouraging. Probably the biggest encouragement was Andreas, another guy on the Pac Bikes team, coming up from behind and telling me to start pushing it. This was I was starting my 1st loop and him his second. The bike went quick in 30 minutes which was good enough for 6th fastest time. As I started the run I was nervous about my calf as I had cramped it during a training run a few days before. I decided that I would just push myself and if it cramped, oh well. Lucky for me, I was very familiar with the course and decided not to take it easy on the sand ladder. This proved a smart move as I caught up with a few guys during the last 2 miles. My time of 31 minutes was the 4th fastest time on the run. Overall, I was 14th and 2nd in my age group. There were some organization issues with the race but overall it was great to see so many friends racing and cheering. I look forward to seeing how I do this weekend in Holland, MI at another sprint triathlon. Hopefully the shorter swim, longer bike and run work to my favor although I will be renting a road bike instead of bringing mine.