Well this past weekend Debbie and I went to Pacific Grove to compete in the triathlon at Pacific Grove.  It's a great event, run very well.  Debbie was going to compete in her very first triathlon a sprint distance event on Sunday.  On Saturday I ran the Olympic distance.  I must admit it seemed a little short now that I do Ironman events, but I did let it hang out and was shooting for a personal record at the distance.

It was difficult to compare apples to apples because the kelp in the bay was so much thicker this year you could not get a decent stroke going.  But I did manage to knock 5 minutes off my swim.  31:00.  (I still think I have a 28-29 in there).

I took about an extra minute in transition this year because I had to wear socks.  I damaged my feet a week ago setting a 10 k PR.  Bummer.  Anyway I averaged 22.3 MPH over the 24.8 miles.  Great ride.  And I held back for the run.  1:07.

T2 was very quick at a little over a minute.  Slipped my racing flats on and left.

On the run, I let loose on the second lap.  I have really been working hard on my running.  Last year I averaged 9:20's per mile and almost died when it was over.  This year I averaged 7:30's. And I could have kept going.  It was like a long workout.  48 minutes.

My total was 2:31 (12th out of about 90).  Bested my record there by 20 minutes.  By the way, I did not eat much the morning of.  I did eat everything in site for 3 days leading up to the event.  Small dinner the night before.  2 Ensures the morning of.  I felt perfect.

Now the real story of the weekend was my wife running her first.  The morning of the race she said she was fine, but I knew she was scared.  She is terrified of the water let alone a swim in the freezing ocean with kelp everywhere.  She went down to the beach to warmup with the other girls.  I walked down to check on her.  She said she was fine.  After she finished her swim (yeah).  I saw her mount the bike.  After the first lap, I had tears in my eyes for her.  And I'm not the emotional type.  Anyway she finished the event strong clocking a 1:21 (13th).  After she was done I gave her a big hug.  She told us that she was crying at the start line.  I felt so bad for her, I had tears in my eyes again.  Any way great job by her.  I'm very proud of her.