Crazy fun event

This was my first ever triathlon and will definitely not be my last.   I competed as a first timer and had I raced in my age group I would have come in at 3rd!!!!    The swim was very interesting as I was in the next to last wave and as an open water swimmer expected no issues.    The issues turned out to be the large number of struggling swimmers who were still in the water.   I swam about 2 minutes slower than I had anticipated, at 16:14.  Chicago has a long distance between the swim exit and the transition area and next year I will run it as my T1 time was wicked slow (11:02).   The bike, the leg I was most stressed about, turned out to be very fun.   On the return there was a 20 mile an hour headwind which made things interesting.   I will be looking to train on the bike as I need technique help but was pleased at my performance.   The run was a killer as with the humidity the "real feel" temperature was 93 degrees.   I ended up walking a fair bit which I had never done in any of my runs.   Next year I will train more in the heat!   My two mile split was 11:56 but thereafter I slowed down to the extent that my overall run was 12:58.   I had a blast and was happy to represent BlueSeventy in my trisuit and goggles.  I will be back for sure as I absolutely loved doing all 3 sports!