Milton Triathlon

Usually the night before a race I can't sleep. I predicted it last night - thinking I would lay there, toss and turn and have a restless sleep. Nope - went to bed early, read for a bit, and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out. Next thing I knew the alarm was going off and it's race day... Decided to have a quick shower before heading out to get the body woken up fully and the mind ready to go.. Good drive out to Milton, made it in time and pulled up to the gates at just before 8AM.. HOLY CRAP there were a lot of cars.. Ok - this is definitely not the womens' only series...
I had planned ahead with my "bubba" of Cytomax and my empty bottles. Parked the car, got the bike off, pumped up the tires, filled the bottles - 2 for the bike, 1 for the run, 1 for transition, and 1 for the walk over to the race..  LOVE the LUG bag on wheels that is my new tri bag! Pull out the handle, grab the bike, and off I go....
It's a bit of walk back into the race transition hub area - lots of nervous people around but somehow I'm feeling good.. Get into the transition hub and seek out my age group rack... Women 40-44... I find it, at the back, and the best spots are already taken at either end.. Low and behold, 1 rack back is an overflow rack with a nice empty slot on an end... First sign of good luck..  One of the things I like about the Subaru series is they're organized.. Off I go to pick up my race kit, get marked, and grab my chip.. All good..  Back up to transition, find some friends, watch the Try a Tri people coming in from their swim, getting nervous and here's my coach! He made it!!! On goes the wetsuit and time to warm up...
I get into the water which by this time is actually refreshing given it's been warming up... Adjust the wetsuit, head out for a couple hundred meters warm up - feeling good.. No panicking and no breathing issues...  Cut to the chase and here we are at race start....  The gun goes off for my wave (last one of the day) and I go. Set out in the middle, found some feet, latched on and enjoyed the ride.. When I did round that last buouy and sighted shore I was shocked it was almost over... No panicking and I could have kept going...
Transition smooth- onto the bike and here we go...  Coach Brent behind me pushing and driving me and coaching.. God he's good!! And WOW -  I feel bad for all of those I passed with flats, chains off, and you just couldn't make it up that hill.... I DO NOT feel bad for the rest of you I passed who were riding...  Just beyond the 1/2 way mark a bullet flys past and all I hear is my coach asking "are you going to just let Simon pass you like that?" I did manage to catch Simon but not for long... Easy sailing back into the race zone and I psyched myself into the "letting it all fall apart on the run"...
IT SUCKED... My pace was worse than my 1/2 marathon pace. I let my head beat my body and question whether I could do this and oh yah - walk most of it for the first half. I'm not going into details other than to say I did not leave it all out there on the run - I totally sucked out.... Key learning note - I need to keep working on the run but most especially I need to focus my head.. I managed it through the swim, the bike - then I dropped my guard.
But - at the end of the day, I did the Sprint in 2:13 and came 13 out of 22 in my age group... So I should also be proud... And take away the lessons and use them to my advantage. AND REMEMBER - that I HAD FUN!!! I spent time with new friends, got some sun, some exercise, and proved a LOT to myself! So the self inflicted ass kicking is over and on to the next race... Muskoka Chase... 2K swim, 55K bike, 13K run......