Here’s a brief picture-based race report of my experience in Austin this year. This one panned out much better for me than last time I raced here and I am stoked to have taken home first place!

I had to get a brake cable replaced on my bike at the expo. There was a massive crowd of age groupers at the athlete briefing and the man giving the briefing was drilling them about the time cut off’s. Didn’t think much of it until the next morning when the entire race was pushed back over an hour. I hope it didn’t impact too many racers.

Here’s Ed, the head official for the race. He rocked! He is strict and calls it how it is but also understands the dynamic of racing. He wasn’t one of those officials that talks for 30 min about the draft distance and expects that we, as pros, know the rules. He kept us all honest and fair!

I’m getting pretty good at cooking in a hotel room! Salmon with Panang Curry rice and broccoli. I even brought chop sticks from home in a homemade chop stick case that my mom made for Zana and me.

Phone has a little trouble taking quality photos in the dark but I’m racked and ready to fly on the Blue Triad SL.

Captain Jack Sparrow was checking wrist bands as you entered in to the transition area. The day before Halloween had a few volunteers in costumes but this guy won the best dressed award!

Trying to stay optimistic that the swim was going to take place even though the fog kept getting thicker and thicker. Both Steven and I wanted the swim to happen but when we heard the news, we had to switch gears and regroup our mindset. I was rocking the new Roka Viper X swimskin and after having tested it out in the pool and being extremely amazed on how beneficial this swimskin is, I was ready to race in it on this day, however, I will have to wait until next time.

This is hands down the best bike photo I have ever had taken of me. Thank you Scott Flathouse of Light Bucket Photo for the shot and sharing it with me. I have been loving riding this bike this year! I highly recommend it to anyone in the market for a new TT bike. The new Elite is out and that is even faster yet! Can’t wait to be on that for 2017!

This is the start of the 2nd or 3rd lap. I love this run course! Doing 3 laps of the course is great in that it keeps it super spectator friendly and also keeps us racers entertained by the group of guys drinking PBR’s at 10am in the morning! I am glad that I started running in Adidas shoes last year. I race in the Boston Boost and do all my quality runs in them too. The Energy Boost, I use for my shakeouts and the Supernova Glide I use for all my long runs and tempo work.

It’s great to share the podium with such amazing guys and athletes! 3 of them had to catch an early flight home so it only left us with Raelert, Hanson and me. TJ’s bike split was mental and Hanson’s run was phenomenal and I am glad I was able to hold both of them off today. A quick note to mention that Matt Hanson and I are both fueled by First Endurance. I have been using First Endurance products for 3 years now as an integral part to my training and racing and I am super pumped to be representing them for 2017! Raelert is fueled by non-alcoholic beer….

This I had to share: It is a small puddle that was there every morning in my hotel room. How did it get there, I have no idea! There was no drip from the ceiling, no run off from the sink or fridge, no bottle spilt from the table; just a random small puddle in the middle of the floor. How big does a rodent need to be to produce a puddle this big???? Not to mention the 4 blood spots on the head board exactly the height of where the back of your head would be if you were to sit up straight on your bed to watch tv or work on your computer…. Gross!

I was going to share one more photo of my crossing the finish line with the tape in hand. However, when I went to Finisher Pix to purchase a single download of that photo, they asked for $25.99 for a single download. No thank you Finisher Pix!!!

Thank you all for your support and cheers!! It really means a lot to me and I have enjoyed every step of the way! Zana’s father Al has always been so proud of me and has been the greatest support anyone could ask for, he will forever be in my thoughts during every race.

Thank you to Blue Competition Cycles, First Endurance, Roka Sports, ISM Saddles, ZJay’s Soothers, Adidas USA and BioAstin for all your support!