It was a beautiful Saturday morning, sunny and warm. At my hotel perched on top of a hill in the city of Avalon, I was nervously getting ready for my first ever triathlon. Catalina has always been at the top of my favorites list of weekend destinations for activities like Jazz Fest and Scuba Diving and of course Karaoke, but I never thought I would be competing in a triathlon. After the finish, I was happy I agreed to give it a try.

The swim is a cool 1/2 mile sprint around the Catalina Pier, followed by a 15k bike, 3 loops up to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens. The ride climbs uphill to the gardens (334ft elevation gain), turns around then heads back downtown. After 3 loops its back to transition and off to a pretty tough 3 mile, hilly, run in the sun. The run follows the shore around Avalon towards the Casino building, heads back behind the Descanso Beach Inn and UP hill towards Hamilton Cove (197ft Elevation Gain), we turn around at the top and head back into town to a Grinder. One last steep hill, a nice decent and a left turn to the home stretch.

I could not have asked for anything different for my first Tri. It was the perfect length. I messed up my swim slightly, following the wrong feet, got a bit off course. After getting back on course, I swam as hard as I could and finished the swim in 14:02.6. My transition into my bike gear didn't go too smoothly either since my jersey pockets got caught up on my wet skin and I had a hard time getting it completely on. After a T1 time of 3:27.1, it was off to my 15k bike which I finished in 35:52.5, T2 went a bit better with a time of 1:47.0, and my 3 mile run was completed in 27:28.4 for a total time of 1:22:37.4.

I placed 21st of 48 in my age group (30-34m), 138th overall and 118th in my sex category. I am extremely happy with my results. At first my goal was to finish but after my bike my goal changed to beat 1:30:00.0. I succeeded and I cannot wait to do it again.

In January 2009, I was involved in an off road vehicle accident that left me pretty badly injured until recently (July 2009). I have finally started working out again and hope to be ready by next season to give #2 a tri!