The Maryland State Championship triathlon is always held in Rock Hall, which is super convenient for us. Last year I placed 3rd in my age group in the State Championships, which qualified me for the short-course Nationals this year, which were here in Atlantic City in the middle of September. When I decided that I was going to compete in the Olympic Distance (I could pick Sprint or Olympic) I also hired a coach because I was super nervous about competing against all of the other state champions. Honestly, I was having nightmares about coming in last! I started training with her April, and was ready when September rolled around. It was a pretty amazing experience. There were thousands of competitors in 35 heats. The first wave started at 6:30AM and mine didn’t go off until slightly after 9AM, so there was a lot of time to stand around feeling my nerves. The swim was in the back bay, which was not the cleanest water and was also salty, which I was not used to. Per usual, it was my weakest leg, but my whole goal was to just get it done without freaking out, which I accomplished! The bike, my strongest leg, was along the New Jersey Expressway. They closed two lanes of traffic for the bikes, which was nice. Going through the toll booths was a challenge because of the rumble strips, but otherwise, it was flat and smooth sailing. Finally, the run was along the boardwalk. By the time I was running, it was almost noon and hot. While it was cool to run along the water, unfortunately, the boardwalk was pretty crowded and thick with weed smoke. I know I wasn’t the only runner wishing for some cleaner air. All that said, I did well, top 1/3 of women, which I’m really happy with. It wasn’t my fastest Olympic distance, but all things considered, it was just perfect!

Here is USA Triathlon’s coverage of the event.