I know you are disappointed and I will not try to devalue that emotion. But I want you to consider a few things:

1) You took a minute off your swim time! That's awesome over such a short course. You should be proud of your improvements in efficiency.

2) You took nearly FOUR minutes off your run time! That's more than one minute per mile. Woot!! Your hard work and your weight loss really paid off here. That's a fantastic improvement in a year. You'll be even stronger next year.

3) You moved up in your age group! 6 of 19 this year, vs. 8 of 15 last year. That's great! It's a competitive age group, and you are showing improvement.

4) You had a bad day on the bike. That sucks, and perhaps the pool water is to blame. But you overcame it and did not quit. You should be proud of that.

Not everything is going to go well in a race. You are still a novice, and each of these races gives you valuable information that you can tuck away and improve on for the next one! Turn the lemon into lemonade for the next event.