Being totally obsessive - I'm now looking at data for four years of doing this race.

My transitions were really slow this year. In T1 I was stuck behind some people walking in and then I helped the woman who was racked next to me get her bike jersey on.

T2 had a totally different set up this year because of some new construction at the school. We had to walk (run) 3 to 4 times as far as we had to in the past. I actually ran a bit of it, but it was on a concrete sidewalk and in bike shoes it felt very jarring. I wasn't worried about slipping, more about how it felt on my joints. Probably 3 people asked where the run out was and I gave them directions.

My run and my bike were actually my second best times and the swim was only 3 seconds off my second best. Overall, I was only 3 minutes off my PR.

I have to say I was kind of surprised at how unprepared some people were about the logistics of the race. The organizers had sent out bucket loads of e mails about the race with info. Their website had everything laid out clearly. We needed to attend the pre race meeting before going to packet pick up. I watched three people get turned away from packet pick up because they hadn't gone to the meeting. The meeting for me, was a waste of time since no new info was presented. In multiple places it said no dogs. One woman wanted to take her dog into the pre race meeting. Then on race day, tons of dogs around. WTF - do the rules not apply to you? You had to have a USAT license - either a yearly or a one day - before you went into packet pickup. Two people got turned away for that. We had to know our race numbers before packet pickup... they were posted on the website and on a wall outside registration. People didn't know their numbers...

T2 had a totally different set up this year. After registration, I explored the bike in and the run out, making sure I knew where the bathrooms were and the first aid station. I do that at every race. Don't you want to know where you're going and where you can get water?

USAT rules are no listening devices on the bike or the run. A USAT official told a runner to take out her earphones. The runner replied, "Go ahead and dock me all the time you want. I'm keeping them in." Really... I wish they had DQ'ed her. Such flagrant disregard for the rules really irritates me. I would love to run the race with my Thumps on, music definitely helps me run. But it's against the freakin' rules!

Maybe I'm oddly obsessive, but I read everything on the race organizer's website and all the emails they send. For big events, I'm reading their Twitter feed. I want to be as prepared for the event as possible. I've got other stuff to stress about on race day...

Veronica