CB&I Triathlon

First off, this was the 6th year for this race and it appeared to be well run and well coordinated with the local community.

I racked my bike in the transition area Friday evening with no problems. (Doesn't my bike look a little lonely at this point?)

I also arrived early race morning to set up my stuff in transition, also no problems there. I found some friends from some races last fall and winter, and chatted with them for awhile before finishing my preparations

I was in the second wave and started out slow so I didn't get caught in the mass of swimmers in the lake before I really took off with the wave. I did have an occasional problem with contact with other swimmers, but nothing serious. The transition area was well-organized and caused no issues for me, I also had what I felt was a good transition area location and had no problems with the exit/entry points. The bike route was good and traffic control was excellent, I never once had to so much as slow down for or worry about road traffic. Another rider from my wave and I were pretty much moving at the same pace and leapfrogged each other every couple miles, finishing the bike at the same time. The run was a slightly new course this year (although I hadn't run this event before I had volunteered for it) but it was a nice out and back, looping through a new community. I saw several friends of mine volunteering during the run portion, so I was well-cheered for during the run.



Here's a photo of me snapped by a friend just after I entered the run course.




I'm not one to be confused with a speedster, and I finished well back in my age group, but I did beat my personal goals for each of the 500 meter swim, 15 mile bike and 5K run events. My stated goal for the race was to be under 2 hours, and I had really hoped to beat 1:50:00. In the end, my official finishing time was 1:43:54.5!
Afterwards, the post-race food and party was definitely better than average (at least the average of my experiences), and I got to sit around with my friends some more and discuss the course, future events and other stuff like that.

Looking back over the whole event, I am really excited about moving forward into other triathlons. I have generally not been very confident of my swimming skills, but I did just fine in my first event with a (somewhat) crowded open water swim. I really had not been quite properly prepared on my bike, but I still posted a time better than I expected, and I have certainly have lots of room for improvement on the bike. I felt strong on my run and was able to run and maintain a solid pace for the run, I hadn't expected to still feel strong by this point. I feel good about this as part of my overall endurance and expect my triathlon run time to improve as I also improve my run time in general.

I had a great time at the CB&I Tri and I can't wait for my next one!