I'm starting to think there should be weight classes in Triathlon

I had my first Triathlon in almost 2 years on Sunday (March 20th). It was a short, Sprint Distance Triathlon (roughly 750 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.6 mile run). The triathlon is called Waterfront and it's notorious for some rough water, but flat and windy bike and run. I arrived about an hour before the race, set up my bike on the rack, and also my shoes, helmet, glasses, all in position for a fast transition. I was a little nervous about the swim, since it's been so long and it can be crazy hectic in the water. The water didn't look too rough as the waves weren't breaking, so I was thinking it might be better then expected....Well, I was wrong. Once I swam to the start, I realized the wind had picked up and it was very choppy. We were all churning in the water when the gun went off. I swam pretty hard to the first buoy and was doing alright until about 10 meters or so to the buoy. It was backed up with people trying to do the 180 around it, so you have to stop swimming and try to side swim or wade your way around it. As I reached the buoy, 2 rather large Military dudes decided to grab my shoulder and pull their way around me to move forward. At this point, I let out a "this isn't the expletive seal training, its a triathlon" and proceeded to move in the queue around the buoy. After this, I was able to start swimming better and finished pretty strong.

When I reached the transition area, my helmet and glasses were on the ground as someone must've knocked them off....go figure. I took my time, put on my cycling shoes, helmet, glasses, and was on my way. I pedaled strong but kept it in an easier gear to get the blood to flow to my legs from my arms. This paid off as I was able to pick up speed and pass some others later. Funny note here is I passed my friend Emily in the first few minutes of the ride even though she was part of a relay that started the swim 3 minutes after I did.....Her swimmer passed me in the water when starting 3 minutes later...I suck at swimming!!!

Anyhow, I jockeyed back and forth for position with some other riders that were pretty strong and finished the bike averaging 25.4 mph, which was good enough for 38th best bike on the day (as opposed to my 71st place swim..yikes!!!)

I pulled my feet out of my shoes while pedaling towards transition and didn't fall or crash my bike, so that was good. My transition times were slow but I expected that given I hadn't practiced them at all....

The run started into the wind and I pushed hard but tried to be smart and draft behind some of the guys that had transitioned faster then I did. This paid off as I was able to pass about 5 or 6 in the first half mile. I started to cramp a little as I took a gel in too close to the run, while on the bike, and had to hold my side while running for about a mile. I pushed through as I've gotten used to running with cramps and continued to pass people. The run seemed to last pretty long and I was glad to finally make it to the 2 mile mark. At about this time, I passed a kid, who turned out to be 14 years old, and told him "Good Job...and keep up the pace" and he jumped behind me and picked it up for a little while. It was great to see someone so young going so fast. He is going to be really good when he is older!!. As I headed down the final stretch, I noticed that I was catching the Women's 1st place racer. I put my head down and pushed to the finish. As I came around the corner, I saw the clock read 1:06:40 and sprinted to finish just under 1:07.

My final stats: 1:06:50. 23rd overall. 3rd in my Age Group!!! 4 minutes faster then my 2008 time, although I think the swim was shorter by about 2 mins, but a PR nonetheless!!! It's the first time that I've placed in my age group in a Triathlon and exciting to take home some hardware!!