The first time I came to this race was in 2007, with Margaret. She was racing, I was just photographing--the first Head of the Kevin was the next day(sound familiar?) It was about a week after we moved in together, so for once, no one was late for the departure. It was a big step for us, and we were both really excited about it(living together, though, to be honest, I was pretty excited about Margs not being late, too :)

Ironically, I brought my bike along then, too, to ride after the racing, but, much like today, I ended up not riding it. Margs' race didn't go very well, and she wasn't feeling that great, so she just wanted to get the hell out of there. Margs really liked this race series, so she was extra unhappy to not do well.

At the time, we thought she was just over-trained. In a few months it became pretty clear that this was far more serious, but at the time, we didn't really give it too much thought.

Which brings us to today. Winning my age group here today (thanks, Mike Baker, for racing elite) was pretty special. And even though the bike course was flooded, and it turned into an aquathlon, it was really, really awesome to see that 1 next to my name in the division column. If there was one race where I really wanted to do that, this was it.

And on that note, the 2009 triathlon season is over. It's (mostly) rowing time for now. Who knows what 2010 will bring?