Thanks to everyone for the advice and words or support.

I had a good race. I was so nervous beforehand that I thought I might puke. The category was 31 strong and we stayed in a big group for about 5 to 6 miles. But the course was very hilly, no flats and the hills steep so the group shattered pretty quickly. I thought I was going to die on the first lap. My goal was to stay with the group as long as possible and then just finish the race without crashing. I fell of the back of the lead group at about mile 6. From what I understand, about 7 women stayed together at the front for most of the race. I was in 11th place for most of it but I hooked up with one girl and we worked together to reel in another 2 riders after they fell off the front pack. Then another girl cuaght us and we were a group of 5. I managed to pull ahead with about 3 miles left and held that for a 9th place finish.

The last 100m were... I am not exaggerating here... a 17% grade to the finish. It was awful!!! But I finished and didn't crash. But I didn't get as much riding in a big group experience as I wanted. When I finished I was so out of breath I couldn't speak for about 3 min. Then I went out to eat a giant bacon cheeseburger!!

So yes, I will live to race again. This type of racing will seriously boost my tri times I think.