STOP???  What?  I was confused but then the official said "lightning".   Oh...I hadn't even noticed I was concentrating so hard on watching the swimmers in front of me.    The official who stopped the race had a blackberry with radar.   I asked to look at it and told him I was a meteorologist.  He chuckled at the irony of that.    There was a nasty line of storms just to our west heading east so they sent everybody to the gym in the YMCA building for safety.  

They held the race for about 45 minutes.  However, they let everyone who had already started finish the race.   The rain was really coming down so I felt sorry for the gals who were out on the course.    They finally made the call to cancel the swim and asked whoever wanted to do a duathlon (bike/run) to line up on their bikes.  

It was still pouring.   I went to transition to put my bike gear on.  Of course everything was soaked.   At least we got a taste of what it's like to bike and run after the swim ha ha.   I lined up and when I got the go-ahead I immediately dropped my chain.  Uggh.... so I had to stop and put my chain back on.   It didn't take long but it wasn't a great way to start.     I was worried about the wet roads being slick and my brakes were practically non-existent due to being wet so I was conservative going down hills and in the corners.   However,  overall I was happy with my bike ride.   There were plenty of gals who passed me but I passed some too.  

When I came back into transition from the bike ride my running shoes had water standing in them.   Pretty funny.   I took off on the run and could not catch my breath.   I had practiced bike to run a number of times but it seemed harder during the race.   Maybe because there were people cheering?   I probably started my run too fast.   After about 1/2 mile I settled into my run rhythm and the run went fine.   Part of it was on the ball fields and was ankle deep in mud.   That was kind of fun since I was used to mountain biking where you get really muddy.   

It was a thrill to cross the finish line with my friends and family waiting for me.    A few of us decided to stick around to see the results.   They scored the triathlon and the biathlon separately.   My two friends who got to do the triathlon came in at 100 and 101.  One of my friends came in 15th in the duathlon and 5th in her age group.   Woo hoo!!!  Shelly my training partner came in 65th and I was 79th.   I was happy with that out of a field of 600.   (some chose not to do the duathlon though so that number may have been less)  

Even though it was a letdown that some of us didn't get to swim it was still a great event.   All of my friends were talking about which one we would do next.   I've got a couple things on my schedule.   A LONG off road triathlon in August and a women's only bike ride Le Tour de Femme in October.    Stay tuned.   I'll keep blogging.