hmmmm, my sister and two friends of ours are looking to try our first tri next year, maybe the hagerstown one is the way to go. i seem to be the only one OK with open water, so starting in a pool would make a lot of folks happy. i'll have to bookmark and see where we stand next year. the irongirl one looks very cool, but also likely the same weekend as the philly livestrong, if history repeats itself. so that would be out.

thanks for the info!