Well, I officially completed my first mini sprint triathlon on July 11th in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida! It was a beautiful day and everything went pretty much as planned (with a few exceptions!). Thank you so much for your fantastic information on preparing for the race as well as what to have available during the transitions (the bucket of water was key for clean and un-sandy feet!)

So, my story is as follows:

Everything, as I said, was going as planned.. no problem on the swim and then headed out for the 13 mile bike. So as I was riding, a girl passed me who I thought looked very strong and someone for me to keep up with or in the best case- someone to beat! So the next thing I know, I started peddling faster to go past her (and I did) and then no sooner did I pass her when I ended up taking a wrong around a rotary!! I realized it right away (thank goodness!) along with a couple other people, so I immediately turned the bike around and started out after her again.. About 3-4 minutes later of pushing myself pretty hard, I was able to pass her for the SECOND time. She smiled at me going by and said, "you're fast!! I thought I had lost you when you went the wrong way!" So at that point we went back and forth passing one another until reaching the next transition area to start on the run, I was satisfied.. I had beat her on the bike which was my goal after her passing me in the beginning. :) So from there, I took way too much time getting started on the run (I changed both my shorts and top and had to re-pin my number on my running - not biking jersey! Newbie!! ;) and headed out for the 5K. As soon as I made it through about the first mile, I saw her just 30 feet in front of me! I came up on her and passed her like I didn't recognize her when she shouted 'no way!' in a most friendly way.. I never looked back and ended up winning although it really didn't matter.. I just wanted to say it was so much fun competing within the race with someone who seemed to be having as much fun as I was. I was so inspired after my first race that I'm signed up to do another sprint triathlon this weekend.

Thanks again for all your great words of wisdom and for the wonderful information on your website - I have since shared with many interested friends and athletes who are going to give it a tri!!!!

Sincerely, Hillary Williams
Jacksonville Beach, FL