1:35 read the clock at the finish. I had more gas in the tank then I expected at the end, and should have expended more on the run, but overall I'm pleased, and somewhat tired two days later. I met one fellow triathlete who told me he won the 50+ age group in 1:10, so I'm apprximately one third slower then those guys. I would expect the best amateur athletes to be twice as fast, so that is better then I expected.

Back to the start. The lake is gorgeous, clear. 500 athletes, going off to the swim in seperate waves. Now that I'm fifty plus, I'm in the first wave to launch. The wave also includes the "elites", and the athletes over 190 lbs. The swim is definitely a "contact sport". I stayed back of the elites, but somebody managed to karate chop me on the head. I've got a nice bump where I got hit. It's good I've done these things before, or I would have been scared out of my wits. Perhaps the course was a bit crowded, but I should have known better then to swim as close to the course line as I could. That belongs to the faster swimmers.

After I got out of the water, I saw my good friend Wayne, part of a husband wife team, who suggested perhaps that I might not want to continue, but checked my pupils and said you are probably OK. Just stop if you are nauseous.

I put my shirt, socks and bike shoes now turned white from the baby powder in my socks and rode up a small hill. The course was beautiful, but definitely "rolling". I felt good passing a couple of people on tri-bikes who were unable to stay in the aero position while climbing, and couldn't quite reach their shifters. I'm still riding good old Italian steel (Bianci Eros) that is ten years old. I stayed in the middle chain ring the entire ride. I loved the horse farms, the orchard and the ride by the lake. It would have been nice to have gears that worked. In fairness to my friends at Landry's, they told me I needed to replace my rear wheel, and made an emergency last minute repair after they were closed to fix my front brake on which I took a late minute spill.

After 10 miles, with too little real hammer time, and considerably more spin then I anticipated, came the run. It started as a gradual uphill. I needed to stop and stretch my right calf. (How dumb -- I didn't take any warm up time in the AM other then a five minute swim prior to the race. I really should know better for next time.) At about the mile mark we left the street and started to run in a field. The ground was soft underneath. Very cool! My friend Wayne passed me just as we were going uphill. Other then Wayne almost everybody walked it single file. It was a bit of a vertical. The last mile was mostly downhill and lots of the home owners were cheering us on. As I recall there were only a couple of water stops along the race.

On Monday, my quads felt as if they were glued to the bone. Today they are loose, and I'm feeling ready to go again. I need to focus on the bike and spend more time in the lake and less in the pool. I'm still not willing to put in more than one 4-6 mile run per week, for fear of doing any real damage to my medial-meniscus-free right knee.

I recommend this course, although it certainly is not flat and fast! Great fun!