So i got home yesterday from my first Tri the Sacramento Intl Tri. I did the spring .75 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 4 mile bike. First befor i go on with this let me just say that i had a great time so no matter what I have to say i had a really great time.

PRE-RACE: So if any of you read my post about the reno quakes i have not been sleeping well due to the shaking all the time it seems. I am on edge because they say the big one is coming so every 4.0 has me up and running. So that was fri night and sat night i stayed in Sac. Went to race check in and this is where i got a little worried about what was to come and the organization of the race. So i check in get my chip and t-shirt but thats it. They did not tell you what time t1 and 2 opened and seeing as it was a 2 transition race that would have been nice to know. No real info about the swim and no where to park for the swim so it was hard to watch. No info about the run or bike was given. So I thought ok its my first i will just figure it out maybe this is the norm. I did not have to worry as much about sleeping that night but naturally my nerves were a little high before my first Tri. Woke up had some peanut butter crackers and gu20. I felt good which for me at 5:30am is a good thing i usually fell sick that early in the morning. I got to T2 to drop my run gear and then biked to T2 about a mile good warm up. Got to T2 racked my bike and notice no race staff was there and the boyes were still in the parking lot i figured they would just put them out when it was time to swim. So start time comes and goes swim still not set up and complete disorganization. So the super sprint goes first and they are told to swim around a kayak that they just had floating around with a person in it. So now it is out turn and it goes something like this swim to the red kayak and then around the boyes (that were now in the water). They were not easy to see as we were in a river and they were black and with all the trees being green made them blend in. I am not sure if every one even knew where they were going when they left.

Swim: Horn sounds and off we go. I started toward the back thinking i am a slow swimmer. Well i am faster than i realized as i kept running up on people. not a lot of kicks just a few here and there. i had not been able to practice ows before this but i felt fine and never got worried. Spotted well around the turns but coming in the sun was right down the river making it super hard to see. So i just stayed somewhat near shore knowing i would be able to find the boat ram that way. It worked and to my shock i was 12th out of the water out of about 90 people.

T1: I was a little out of it but i did ok with no timing mats i will never really know how long it took me but i think like 2:30 according to my watch. Put my swim stuff in the trash bag they gave us so we could find it at T2 later but got lucky and ran into my GF so she took it.

Bike: Now this is supposed to be my strong leg I found out that today it was my weak leg. Start out strong then it happens the roads turn to crap and for the first 4 mile are some of the worst i have ridden. I had to doge potholes every 100yrds or so and it was not fun and never really got better but it was closed to traffic which was nice but i would rather ride a smooth sholder than a bumpy road. I got passed by quite a few people but for the most part they were on $3000+ tri rigs and most had fancy zipp wheels and i was just on my Felt road bike but i passed a few people but lost a lot of time to the faster people and rode slower than i ever do but i think the roads were a factor.

T2: Well all the gu2o i had for breakfast and the water i had on the bike decided that they no longer wanted to be a part of this race and came up in spectacular fashion. I figured oh well now i am lighter for the run and put my shoes on and away i went.

Run: It was a great run along a path next to the river beautiful but most of the course was including the bike. I felt strong my goal was not to allow my self to walk and i stuck to that and had a better pace than planed. 4 miles went by really fast and i felt great. Rounding the corner to the finish i looked at the clock my goal was to finish in 2 hours that is what i figured i could do it said 1:51 but since super sprint stared 10 mins before us than means is was really 1:41. I got so excited i could not contain my self people cheering and know i was going to kill the time i wanted i sprinted and i mean sprinted, i don't know why or even how but i did it all i know is it was one of the best moments i have had in a long time. I finished in about 1:42 by my watch i had put it on my wrist upside down so i would not look at it till the end. That was it they had some food and it was kind of relaxed but i felt great about myself.

Post Race: Did not place and don't know my exact time but i did what i set out to do and i could not be happier and cant wait for the next one. Drove back to Reno got Chipotle on the way because i love it and we don't have them here. Went to bed at ten and woke up at about 4 because of yet another quake of 4.2. So slept like crap and really need a earthquakeless night.

On a side note i just want to thank all of the people on this forum. You have all been great and the advice you give is priceless i really think i would not have been as calm given the disorganization if i had not spent so much time here. I really knew what to expect and it made it so much easier. Thanks again cant wait for the next on. Sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors i am working on a 20 page research paper and with the lack of sleep my brain is fried.