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<p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">left Boston area with 2 friends also doing the race Friday afternoon under dark clouds. Drove through several areas of rain and saw a lot of lightening. Moe traffic than normal even for a Friday afternoon in the summer as it took 2 hours for the 1 hour ride to Concord. After Concord traffic got much better. Stopped by Gunstock for check-in which went pretty smoothly. Then proceeded to friend's place at the other end of the lake. Friend’s wife was at the house so we met her at a local pub for dinner and a couple of beers for the carbs.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Since the parking lots fill up pretty quick and we did not want to have to shuttle we left the house by 4:45. Stopped at a Dunks for coffee and were not surprised all the other cars had bikes on them also. Came into the state park from the opposite direction than most so traffic was fine. Got our stuff and headed over. Got marked and bikes inspected with no issues. They seemed overly concerned about handle bar plugs as they were checking bikes that had already been racked. Headed over for the swim start. One friend was in my wave (4th) and the other was in the 3rd. When our wave got started a lot of running as the water stayed shallow and the bottom was firm sand. Got going but not able to get a smooth rymthm going. Once I got going I was okay and passed more than got passed I think. Saw some people running still. After the turn to shore I swam until my hands were hitting the bottom as it was pretty rocky. No wetsuit so I was able to skip the strippers, got to my bike and AG buddy was just finishing up get ready for the ride. Did okay through the transition. Bike went pretty well but never having ridden the course and knowing there were hills I head a little back. I averaged 16.8 and it should/could have been higher. Again I think I passed more than got passed. As I was finishing the bike I was fighting the urge to go to the bathroom. Got through the bike/run transition and couldn't fight it any longer so I stopped at a potajohn. Even with that I was able to have a decent run with negative splits, helped in part by the downhill grade coming in. Buddies had already finished and were along the fence line. Then I heard someone call my name and it was my next door neighbors who where there to watch the race with their grandchildren as their daughter and son-in-law were running. They had not come in yet which I let out a sigh of relief as that meant I had caught someone and not been caught. Grabbed some food and met some great people from southern NJ as we ate. Then it was time to head back to the friend's place since none of us had gotten hardware. Had a few beers, took a boat ride around part of the lake and then called it a day and heading back to Boston.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All in all a good time and I felt good about my race. Much better than two years ago when I was going to quit as I had finished last in my AG but then again there were only 5 people in that race for my AG. </span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Since the parking lots fill up pretty quick and we did not want to have to shuttle we left the house by 4:45. Stopped at a Dunks for coffee and were not surprised all the other cars had bikes on them also. Came into the state park from the opposite direction than most so traffic was fine. Got our stuff and headed over. Got marked and bikes inspected with no issues. They seemed overly concerned about handle bar plugs as they were checking bikes that had already been racked. Headed over for the swim start. One friend was in my wave (4th) and the other was in the 3rd. When our wave got started a lot of running as the water stayed shallow and the bottom was firm sand. Got going but not able to get a smooth rymthm going. Once I got going I was okay and passed more than got passed I think. Saw some people running still. After the turn to shore I swam until my hands were hitting the bottom as it was pretty rocky. No wetsuit so I was able to skip the strippers, got to my bike and AG buddy was just finishing up get ready for the ride. Did okay through the transition. Bike went pretty well but never having ridden the course and knowing there were hills I head a little back. I averaged 16.8 and it should/could have been higher. Again I think I passed more than got passed. As I was finishing the bike I was fighting the urge to go to the bathroom. Got through the bike/run transition and couldn't fight it any longer so I stopped at a potajohn. Even with that I was able to have a decent run with negative splits, helped in part by the downhill grade coming in. Buddies had already finished and were along the fence line. Then I heard someone call my name and it was my next door neighbors who where there to watch the race with their grandchildren as their daughter and son-in-law were running. They had not come in yet which I let out a sigh of relief as that meant I had caught someone and not been caught. Grabbed some food and met some great people from southern NJ as we ate. Then it was time to head back to the friend's place since none of us had gotten hardware. Had a few beers, took a boat ride around part of the lake and then called it a day and heading back to Boston.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All in all a good time and I felt good about my race. Much better than two years ago when I was going to quit as I had finished last in my AG but then again there were only 5 people in that race for my AG. </span></span></span></p>
