Well I completed my first (sprint) tri Saturday morning, so now i'm officially hooked! What a blast! Overall I think I did OK for my first event. I went in hoping to finish at 1:30 or better, and I came in at 1:30:05.
A horrible swim, and a couple of real stupid mistakes cost me several minutes.

First the swim (600meter). I had consistently been doing 600m swims in 12 minutes, but that was in a pool with few people around me. Everything I read said to ease my way into the water and gradually build up speed, but not to overdo it and kill myself for the bike. Knowing that, I still foolishly rushed into the water in a mad sprint when the gun went off, and lead my group for maybe the first 100 yds. I quickly burned myself out (swimming is my least experienced event), and once the swimmers began catching up and passing, I lost my composure. That was the first time I ever had to swim with arms and legs swinging and kicking me. I got to a point where I just couldn't catch my breath so I ended up using the breast, side, and back stroke for a large portion of the swim. (the friend I did the tri with was 6 laps behind me the last time we swam a mile together in a pool, and even he beat me out of the water in our first tri) .Like I said, I just blew it mentally here.

So now it's off to my first transition. I guess I used my legs more than usual in the swim, because they felt like noodles running to the T1 area. I got in, cleaned my feet, and slipped in to my socks,bike shoes,
shirt, helmet and glasses pretty smoothly. No problems here.

Off to the bike (15 mile)! This is definitely my strong area, but as I first started pedaling I soon realized I forgot to stuff my gel pack into my shirt pocket (note to self, tape it to the top tube next time). I had intended on taking the gel half-way thru the bike, but since that wasn't possible now, I decided to take in some of my liquid electrolyte mix. I got a good drink in, but somehow manage to mishandle the bottle while putting it back into the holder (still upset about the swim). It tumbles to the road and is rolling towards me. I slow down and unclip hoping to grab it, but the bottle hits a bump and heads into the ditch. I almost left it behind, but figured I really needed that liquid, so I got off my bike and walked into the ditch to get it. My friend had been appx 4 bikes ahead of me prior to that, but by the time I got back to pedaling he was just barely in sight.

SIDE NOTE: The time I planned to use for filling water bottles, organizing, etc was used up helping repair
the bike rack I was stationed at. It had collapsed leaving numerous bikes on the ground
before the stert of the race! My second water bottle was already half gone from the morning
warm-up, so my elctrolyte bottle was my only full one.

Once I got back on the road, I gathered myself and got busy spinning! I decided to focus on catching up to my friend, but I was afraid to push too hard and kill myself for the run. My strength is climbing, so I really hit it hard on the hills. I ended up passing a lot of riders and catching my friend just before the half-way point of the ride. After that, I just maintained that pace, and my friend pretty much stayed within a few bikes of me the rest of the way. I had some minor cramping in my right calf throughout the bike, but nothing serious.

Transition #2, this one didn't go as well. I was sitting, changing into my running shoes and in my hurried state, fumbling to tie my shoes seemed to take an eternity (I think i'll try speed-laces next time). My friend came in a few bikes behind me, but since he used his running shoes for the bike, he just dropped the bike off, and headed out. I left T2 appx 30-60 seconds behind him (he's a marathon runner, so I knew I wouldn't catch him from this point)

Off and running (3.1 miles)! About 100 yds into the run, both of my calfs started cramping badly enough that I stopped to stretch them out a bit. Even though that probably cost me appx 30-45 seconds, it was worth it, as I never cramped again during the run. Part of the run was thru the woods with hills, so again I used the hills to my advantage and did a good bit of passing while on the inclines. I maintained a consistent pace during the rest of the run, and waited for the last little bit to kick it in to a sprint (during my training I always finished my runs with a sprint for the last city block). During the last mile I focused on an individual appx 50 yds in front of me with the goal of passing her. It was somewhere around the last 1/8th mile that I finally did, and I got a few others during my final kick. The best news was my ITB knee problem barely reared it's ugly head, and I only had minor pain during the last mile of the run. As I crossed the finish line my friend was on the other side just tapping into some ice-cold water. He finished with a 1:28:59, while I crossed at 1:30:05, leaving us 0:01:06 apart. We both had a great time and look forward to a return to next years event, and hopefully some Olympic and maybe 1/2 IM's down the road! Anything beyond that will require a HUGE improvement in my swimming ability!

Sorry for rambling on, but it was just such a positive experience, that I wanted to pass it along for anyone still thinking of trying one. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the many of you that have taken the time to answer a lot of the newbie questions i've posted, your help is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

Kevin