Circumstances being what they were, I entered this race fairly out of shape, and certainly not in the top form of two months ago. I had no idea who was going to show up or what the course was like, so I had very few expectations about the race, other than wanting to have some fun. The course for this race is a lot of fun, other than having the 10K run second instead of first. It's also primarily flat, which makes it a drag race from start to finish.

I started well, running with John Hastings (a former pro national champion) for the opening 5K. We came into transition together in just over 17 minutes, and jumped out onto the bike course. My lack of training reared its ugly head at this point, as John slowly pulled away and built up a decent lead. By the third of five laps, I couldn't see him anymore because we were racing amidst people from other waves and from the concurrent triathlon.

After what I considered to be a pretty lackluster ride (to my surprise, my computer showed an average over 24 mph), I dismounted and headed out on the second run. By this time, it was starting to get hot, and I was also not terribly well hydrated. I started to feel some cramping in my calf, so I was forced to regulate my speed to keep my leg from seizing up completely. I still managed a somewhat decent 10K, running under 39 minutes and outsplitting John, but I let one guy pass me with a mile to go and was too far down to make up enough ground. A third place finish would have to suffice, and I can't really be too upset with that.